With this follow-up to her Bafta-winning 2017 debut I Am Not a Witch, the Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni cements her position as one of the most distinctive and exciting film-makers at work in the UK. The black comedy On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, which last weekend picked up British independent film awards for best director and breakthrough performance (for Susan Chardy), is a fascinating, fresh take on a familiar theme.
There are parallels here with everything from Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen to Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding in the premise: an extended family gathering – in this case a funeral and period of ritual mourning – acts as a catalyst that uncovers long-buried family shame and secrets. The shame, in this case, is how many family members knew about this particular secret, yet opted to do nothing. Nyoni’s Zambia-set film, using the Bemba language and English, deftly juggles humour with pathos, domestic drama with surreal fantasy flourishes. It’s dizzyingly creative and rather special.
