Gone Too Far
Starring: Malachi Kirby, Adelayo Adedayo, Shanika Warren-Markland, Bhasker Patel
Director: Destiny Ekaragha
Rating: 3.5/5
Destiny Ekaragha is a director to watch out for over the next couple of years, as she makes her feature film directorial debut this week with Gone Too Far.
Gone Too Far was a movie that I saw for the first time twelve months ago at the BFI London Film Festival, and it finally has a big screen release.
It is always great to see new and upcoming British acting and directing talent on show and they are here in bucket loads both in front of and behind the camera.
When London teenager Yemi's big brother come to live with him from Nigeria, Ikudayisi's terrible fashion sense, broad Yoruba accent and misplaced confidence with the opposite sex threaten to destroy Yemi's already small amount of street cred.
When the pair are forced to spend the day together on their Peckham estate Yemi is forced to confront local bullies, the unattainable girl of his dreams and his own African heritage, eventually teaching both of them the values of family and self-respect.
Director Ekaragha caught everyone’s attention when she made her debut with short Tight Jeans: a film that whipped up a storm at the London Film Festival back in 2008. It is great to see her back in the director’s chair as she makes continues to build on her early promise with this feature film.
Based on the play by Bola Agbaje, Gone Too Far is a funny film that looks at adolescence as well as West Indian-African tensions in Peckham.
This movie does tackle some quite serious racial issues and yet the director does it quite tongue in cheek: this is not a movie that belittles the racial issues and tensions and yet it is not a gritty racial drama either.
Gone Too Far is a comedy about cultural identity and the experiences of second generation African and West Indians in London: the comedy comes in the misconceptions and misunderstandings that they have about each other.
At times, the movie really is laugh out loud funny, but in other places, the comedy just seems a little slapstick and doesn’t quite have the desired effect: that is a major shame.
Malachi Kirby gives a great central performance Yemi, a teenager who struggles to understand his African heritage when his estranged older brother Iku arrives in London.
O.C. Ukeje gives an equally fine performance Iku, a young man who is excited about coming to London and yet struggles to understand why his younger brother would want to forget who he is and where he comes from.
Gone Too Far is also a film about understanding who you are and where you come from as well as the importance of family: and these two elements of the film play out perfectly in the characters of Yemi and Iku.
This is a movie that will put a smile on your face and make you laugh and yet Ekaragha still manages to tackle and highlight some major issues whilst doing that. It is going to be exciting to see just where her directing career is going to take her.
Gone Too Far is out now.