By A. O. SCOTT
Published: September 12, 2013
There is something irresistible about a movie that begins with a wedding (think of “The Godfather”), and there are few movie weddings as beautiful as the one at the start of “Mother of George,” Andrew Dosunmu’s gorgeous and delicate new drama. The party, a swirl of color, music and sentiment, observed with an eye for telling details of behavior, sets the tone — exuberant, dignified, a little bit anxious — for what is to follow.
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Mother of George
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Oscilloscope Laboratories
Mother of George Danai Gurira stars as a newlywed Nigerian immigrant in Brooklyn, who is under pressure to produce a son in this Andrew Dosunmu film, opening on Friday in Manhattan.
The bride and groom are Nigerians living in Brooklyn, and under generic banquet hall chandeliers they enact a ritual full of the warmth and gravity of one in their homeland. Elders in brightly patterned robes bless the couple, not just wishing or predicting happiness but guaranteeing it with serene authority.
And at least at first, Ike (Danai Gurira, known to “The Walking Dead” fans as a fearless zombie killer) and Ayo (Isaach De Bankolé, known to Jim Jarmusch fans as the coolest man alive) seem very happy together. There is kindness as well as ardor in the household they establish, and pleasure in their daily routines.
Ayo works alongside his younger brother, Biyi (Tony Okungbowa), at a restaurant overseen by their mother (Bukky Ajayi). Ike sews and cooks at home, or goes shopping with her friend Sade (Yaya Alafia), whose Americanized manners, clothes and accent contrast with Ike’s Old World ways.
To some extent, the cultural clash between old and new — between the demands of African tradition and the pull of American individualism — is the theme of “Mother of George.” But Mr. Dosunmu, working from a sensitive script by Darci Picoult and immeasurably aided by Bradford Young’s vibrant and sensual cinematography, departs from the conventions of the immigrant’s tale in ways both subtle and emphatic. This is not a fable of assimilation or alienation, but rather the keenly observed story of two people seeking guidance in painful and complicated circumstances.
Marital bliss for Ayo and Ike is not just a matter of domestic harmony or sexual fulfillment. Nor are they the only people invested in the success of their marriage. Their extended families, Ayo’s mother in particular, demand a son — the film’s title refers to Ike, who is expected to bear a child named for her husband’s deceased father — and the couple’s inability to conceive becomes a multigenerational crisis.
Ayo balks at the expense of fertility treatment, and also worries that his manhood might be called into question. Ike is afraid that he will seek another wife. Her mother-in-law proposes a solution that is at once shocking and bluntly practical.
I won’t go further, except to say that the matriarch’s plan pushes “Mother of George” decisively in the direction of melodrama. This is not meant as criticism. The strain of rich and anguished feeling in this movie, enhanced by Philip Miller’s music and Mr. Young’s color-saturated, luminous images, is downright exhilarating, and Mr. Dosunmu manages it with a graceful, nimble touch.
He cuts away from intensely emotional moments that might turn loud and histrionic, while finding eloquence in the faces and gestures of the actors. He is a master of the unexpected close-up, making hands and feet as expressive as voices and eyes.
“Mother of George” reminded me a little of “Fill the Void,” Rama Burshtein’s wonderful recent film about a young Orthodox Jewish woman facing a difficult, life-changing decision. What these movies share is a refusal to treat their characters as in any way exotic, to view them from the inevitably condescending perspective of Western secular modernity. In both cases, the heroines are challenged and constrained by the requirements of tradition, but they are also self-aware and free to choose, however painful the choices.
And Mr. Dosunmu — like Ayo and Ike, a Nigerian and a New Yorker — illuminates their world with confidence and sensitivity. It is both strange and familiar, not so much because their milieu and cultural background may be new to some viewers, but because human beings are mysterious and surprising. There is something irresistible about a movie that reaches that conclusion.
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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