Donald Glovers ‘Guava Island’ Review

★★★★★★★★☆☆ Rating: 8 out of 10 HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Taking place in the fictional island of Guava, Donald Glover stars in what has been called a “tropical thriller” alongside Rihanna and Black Panther star Letitia Wright.

The film, clocking in under sixty minutes follows free thinking musician Deni (Glover) go about his care free life on the island, which happens to be partly controlled by guerilla corporation Red Cargo. Rihanna plays Kofi, who is Glovers beautiful girlfriend. Kofi spend her day somewhat unaffected by the oppression felt by Red Cargo’s presence on the island, as most of the films characters seem to be. However, Deni seems to think the opposite and is openly against being anything apart from free, despite a cruel punishment of having to sing their company jingle every day to earn a living. Deni lives in a dream world full of hope, which seems to be Kofi’s attraction to him, he inspires her to dream with him and fight for a more beautiful world, one filled with music, love and freedom for all, even if it means losing everything in the process.

This film, tied in with Glovers recent music releases is a beautiful yet disturbing take on humanity. Set in a relaxed tropical island setting, themes of warmth, love and freedom are implied throughout, yet the influence of Red Cargo on the island seems to threaten the islands inherently peaceful existence.Red Cargo seems to act as a metaphor for a nonspecific form of modern day oppression, whether that for you is race, sexuality, social status or financial status. Deni, through the performance of Childish Gambino’s music attempts to explain that idea to the others on the island who seem to be content with submitting to their authoritarian existence.

The combination of music and film plays to Glovers strengths and not only is it visually stunning but every artistic decision made within the film carries meaning. By inserting his own music in to the film, performed by his character Deni, Glover ties together all of his creative worlds. It is honestly genius and I am in awe with how Glover is so forward thinking and dedicated to performance that he was able to create not only and album or a film but an entire world that simultaneously carries meaning and provides an outlet for his creative construction.

I wouldn’t say it is a visual album but more of an extension of his music. This project is an inclusion of his combined works as the artist Childish Gambino and involves the songs ‘This Is America’, ‘Summertime Magic’, ‘Feels Like Summer’ and the unreleased tracks ‘Saturday’ and ‘Die With You’. Their performance in this film to me, is reminiscent of Michael Jacksons ‘Moonwalker’, allowing them to take on new life outside of their respective music videos.

Seeing Glover dance to these songs is also a great joy of mine. His performance and ability to completely dedicate himself to his projects is impressive to say the least.

And don’t even get me started on Rihanna.

Her contribution to this film is not only visually impressive (I mean, a make up free, no bra wearing Rihanna is the female form in its purist, like honestly perfection) but her acting is subdued and extremely believable. It feels like Glover may have even created the role with her in mind. Hailing from the Caribbean island of Barbados, Rihanna seems at home in an island setting, especially one that involves plenty of dancing and singing. To make this movie even better I would have LOVED a singing moment from her, maybe a little romantic duet but I’m also very okay with her and Glovers joint dancing sequence.

After only finding out about the films existence a few months ago, I had no idea what to expect from Guava Island. After watching it with an already strong background knowledge of Glovers music and artistic endeavours I must say, it just all makes sense. It also uncovers the fact that Glovers art is not intended to be enjoyed as separate singles or one off releases but a complete project. If you’re already a Gambino fan (which I really really am) you will LOVE this film, if not, you may not quite understand what is going on. Regardless, I commend Donald Glovers ambition and his creative vision and now I’m just going to sit here and wait for a complete Guava Island inspired album to drop.