SYNOPSICS
Guava Island (2019) is a English movie. Hiro Murai has directed this movie. Donald Glover,Rihanna,Letitia Wright,Nonso Anozie are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2019. Guava Island (2019) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama,Music,Musical,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Small time musician Deni Maroon and his loving girlfriend, Kofi Novia, live on a beautiful but impoverished small tropical island called Guava Island that's controlled by a brutal paramilitary group, Red Cargo. The island's main resource is a beautiful, expensive, blue silk produced by a silkworm unique to the island, but the island's textile industry and export is controlled by the paramilitary group and the islanders are forced to work for them every day of the week - the women at the textile factory, and the men at the shipping docks. One day, Deni, who works part time at the docks and part time as the local radio station's house musician whose passionate music is extremely popular among the islanders, decides to hold a secret concert in the evening to make everyone happy, if only for a day. However, the leader of Red Cargo, who also controls the textile industry and export, warns Deni not to do it or the islanders will be too tired to come to work the day after the concert and he ...
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Guava Island (2019) Reviews
Pleasantly Surprised...
Guava Island could have been a lavish vanity project. Instead it's a little movie with a big heart. Full of musicality, beautiful locations, cinematography and people. Charming performances and a message to boot. It's also old school in the best possible way. Don't miss it! 8/10
Perhaps it's a movie, a music video, a short film, a commercial, an art-piece or some sort of visual album. Undeniably, it's an experiment.
In some ways, 'Guava Island (2019)' is a feature film, albeit a very short one. In other, arguably more, ways, it simply isn't. Trying to categorise this surprise release is no easy task. It straddles the line between movie, music video, short film, commercial, art-piece, visual album and parable. Essentially, it's all of these things. Undeniably, it's a bit of an experiment. It's also, no matter which way you cut it, a story. This is a relief, regardless of the narrative's simplicity, because it allows the piece to pretty much fly by, telling a tale that actually feels quite purposeful, if well-worn, in the process. It's framed as a mother's story, which is fitting considering its fleeting and somewhat 'faded' nature, and it certainly plays out more as a kind of 'moral' than anything else. It isn't ineffective but it is, as I mentioned, rather broad, culminating in a bitter-sweet finale that doesn't necessarily hold up to all that much scrutiny. There isn't all that much emotional resonance, either. The bare-bones beats hold weight, of course, and there is some threat that causes adequate tension, but the piece seems to try every check-list trick in the book to get your tear-ducts working to no real result. Some of the themes are quite powerful but they hit the head more than the heart, which is fine but doesn't feel intentional and makes for quite cold viewing. It does feel like Glover wants to say something with this. Its actual construction is a bit bizarre, as it bounces from being a fairly serious drama to an incredibly off-beat musical from scene to scene. This causes a lack of cohesion, as does the choice to often layer the actual Gambino songs, non-diegetically, above the lead character's diegetic singing - which creates a seriously strange effect that I can't quite explain. It's also slightly strange that the music is, from what I could tell, exclusively pre-existing Gambino, but I guess that just adds to the affair's overall intangible nature. In any case, when 'This Is America' starts playing it's very distracting. Despite all this, the flick does exude a rather strong sense of atmosphere and conveys a decent amount of character, too. It isn't groundbreaking, though: the story isn't great and I wouldn't even say it's the best way to listen to the music. Still, it's an interesting quirk that's fun enough while it lasts. 6/10
This is Guava Island!
It's unfortunate that all the creativity ran out of steam just when the main plot kicked off, because all the familiarity could have been easily unfelt with a bit of the imagination Hiro Murai embellished the first act with; the animated intro sequence is a case in point. Nevertheless, almost everything else in this little movie is amazing; Donald Glover's vibrant performance, and his electrifying songs, Rihanna's charisma and lovely narration voice-over, Letitia Wright's appeal (her character is completely unnecessary, though), the lively and colourful cinematography that made the titular island anything but fictional place, just to name a few! (7.5/10)
Guava Island
This movie isn't just about Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) it's Hiro Murai's chance to prove he isn't just a director that does tv shows. Murai branches out into a movie that's essentially a big music video with a movie type plot. Murai does not disappoint in Guava Island he perfectly captures the retro look and gets the best out of the talent in this movie. I would highly recommend this movie as the acting is superb and the direction is superb.
A sloppy, 56-minute music video
Donald Glover and Rihanna are both incredibly talented individuals. Whether in the studio, on stage or in front of the camera, these two young music legends usually receive critical acclaim when it's deserved. In 'Guava Island,' however, the two team up but the end result is underwhelming at best. To be fair, at 56 minutes, 'Guava' is never billed as a full-length feature film in the vein that other recent music-themed movies were (like 'A Star is Born' or 'Bohemian Rhapsody'). Still, the disjointed story, awkward camerawork and throwaway music numbers kinda say all there is to say about the effort (although the "This is America" bit is pretty cool). And Rihanna's talents are basically wasted. Many will sing the praises of 'Guava Island' just because who's involved. But it's really more like a smushed guava fruit that's been sitting out in the island sunshine for a bit too long.