I put "Guava Island" on my list of most anticipated 2019 movies a couple of months ago, on the strengths of its talent. Donald Glover/Childish Gambino and Rihanna star in a film directed by Hiro Murai, Glover's longtime collaborator who helmed the "This is America" music video and every episode of "Atlanta" to date. The news that they were making a feature together filled me with glee. The end result, however, is not what I expected.
For one thing, the movie is very short. It's only 55 minutes with credits, and plays more like a super-long episode of "Atlanta" with musical numbers than anything else. Glover starts as a musician named Deni, and Rihanna plays his lady love, Kofi. They live on the fictional Guava Island, a tropical paradise where Deni observes that none of the people have time to enjoy it. Everyone is beholden to the Red Cargo (Nonso Anozie), the businessman who runs the factories and workshops where everyone labors. Deni intends to throw a music festival, but this goes against the interests of Red Cargo, who takes action to shut it down.
The best thing about "Guava island" is its setting. The project was shot in Cuba and uses many Cuban locations and extras, also incorporating bits of the culture through a fictionalized lens. The island is immediately an inviting, colorful, immersive place where everyone knows everyone else. We learn the ins and outs of how it operates just following Deni through his day, from doing announcements and commercials at the tiny radio station, to being held up by some kids for money he doesn't have, to being menaced by Red Cargo. The cast uses a mishmash of different accents, and characters seem to come from a variety of different backgrounds, but there's a strong sense of community.
The story incorporates recent Childish Gambino songs like "This is America" and "Feels Like Summer" into the narrative, recontextualizing them from their previous appearances. "This is America" is used by Deni to lightly chide a co-worker who dreams about leaving the island for a better life. "Feels Like Summer" has a more celebratory tone as it accompanies good news. The performances of these songs are fine, but none of them really stand out, and few match up to the previous incarnations I've seen. However, there's an undeniable charm to seeing Glover perform them while in character as Deni, a good-natured, easy-going troubadour figure.
I wish I could say the same about Rihanna's appearance, but she gets very little to do as Kofi. Surprisingly, she doesn't sing in the film at all. However, she narrates the opening and closing sequences, including a colorful animated segment that sets the mood for the rest of the picture. Letitia Wright is in the movie for about ten minutes as Kofi's co-worker, just long enough for me to wonder why she was being wasted in such a thankless bit part. This is where the short length of the feature hurts it, because these characters and their problems need much more fleshing out. As is, the ending is moving but doesn't have nearly the amount of impact that it could have.
"Guava Island" left me with very mixed feelings. I liked what I saw, but it feels very incomplete, like a proof of concept for a bigger, longer film that I don't think is coming. I have some suspicions that the project was just thrown together as a lark by the creative team - maybe as an excuse to visit Cuba. There's a wealth of ideas and impressions, but few feel like they're being used to their fullest. So while this was an interesting experiment, I hope the next Childish Gambino film and/or Hiro Murai film aims its sights a little higher.
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