Amazon's “Guava Island” Is a Tropical Trip

Amazon subscribers currently have an opportunity to screen this surprising yet unsurprising musical gem and while Iamp8217m a fan of damn near everything Glover does when it came to this project I did have a couple of mixed thoughts amp160Warningamp160 Minor spoilers aheadFirst off I knew absolutely nothing about this film going inamp160 Advertisements pretty much boiled down to a wide shot of a kitchen in some island setting with an appropriately dressed Gambino and Rihanna standing opposite one another amp160The vibe was obvious Rihanna some island Gambino shirtless with a guitar amp8230 I get it amp160And that was essentially what I got There is a small amount of animation that bookends the story which Iamp8217ll admit threw me off a bit because the idea of being an adult who was bait and switched into watching an animated feature infuriated me amp160Fortunately I was mistaken and before I knew it actual people were on screenThis movie is more or less a love story between Gloveramp8217s character amp8220Deniamp8221 and Ririamp8217s character amp8220Kofiamp8221 amp160Both are inhabitants of Guava Island a tropical paradise where the people are fully employed and controlled by Red Cargo company which is run by you guessed it a man literally named amp8220Red Cargoamp8221 played by Nonso Anozie amp160Kofi works as a seamstress Deni is a performer who provides what seems like all the entertainment on the island amp160His plan is to hold a festival for the hardworking people of Guava on Saturday the day they were supposed to have off But Red wants them to work on Sunday something that wonamp8217t happen if everyone parties the night before amp160The events that follow do so in a pretty predictable wayI loved the way this movie looked amp160Murai definitely did his thing the same way he does on all the projects of Gloveramp8217s that he directs which include most episodes of Atlanta and a number of Gloveramp8217s music videos amp160However Iamp8217d argue that in this case the island itself did the heavy visual lifting amp160One would have probably had to go out of their way to shoot that location Cuba amp8220wrongamp8221 amp160Muraiamp8217s genius did truly shine during moments of implied danger or intense suspense though amp160The suspense of implied danger existed more as a slowly growing vibe than it did as a specific collection of moments or camera angles which historically fits Murai and Gloveramp8217s collective MO but Iamp8217ll get back to thatRihanna is billed as Gloveramp8217s costar and while the idea of their love story being the main character is a nice one I feel like these two superstars only shared the screen for less than a handful of scenes amp160Of the unshared portions Iamp8217d say easily more than half went to Glover amp160Also Rihanna sang no songs something that was never promised to us but I kind of expected anyway amp160I mean Gambino sang a bunch and I only half expected thatThe rest of the music was blended pretty organically into the existing setting of Guava just as the charismatic Deni seemed to mesh well with everyone he interacted with amp160Deni is a smooth soulful entertaining guy and the soundtrack at least three songs of which are preexisting Childish Gambino singles matched perfectly with the permasummer vibe of this sunny beachladen islandGuava Islandamp8217s screenplay was written by Donaldamp8217s brother Stephen Glover who once again found himself in familiar company amp160Stephen also wrote at least half of the first two seasons of Atlanta amp160The Glovers and Murai have been a team for a while and with this project it felt no different amp8211 which is why even without knowing anything about the film I found myself silently dreading what I knew probably wouldnamp8217t be a happy endingTo mirror a sentiment from a previous piece on Glover and Atlanta the GloverMuraiGlover trifecta has a modus operandi that usually involves the creeping approach of something terrible or moments of happiness and comfort upended by the sobering reality of how fked the character weamp8217re watching is amp160This is not to say that Guava Island is in any way a downer and Iamp8217m definitely not saying that itamp8217s any way near suspenseful enough to feel like a proper horror flick amp160In fact it mainly appears to be a fairly lighthearted semimusical adventure beautiful people making beautiful music in a beautiful place but in true GMG fashion that beauty even if just for a moment will at some point be opposed by an ugliness that rivals its energyAll in all if you love Childish Gambinoamp8217s music donamp8217t worry your hunger will be more than sated amp160But if youamp8217re not here for the singing thatamp8217s cool too amp160Fortunately for you this is more of a movie with music than it is a musical movie even if it is only by a hair amp160I enjoyed my little visit to Guava Island very much but in the same way that as the story tells Guava exists in a place somewhere between love and war so does this film exist somewhere in a place between something Iamp8217d rave about and something Iamp8217d just mentionOh and Letitia Wright is in it too which is pretty dopeClick on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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Amazon's “Guava Island” Is a Tropical Trip

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Ainsley Andrade

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Amazon's “Guava Island” Is a Tropical Trip

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