FILM REVIEW: Coming to Africa (2020)

We have all seen and heard of Coming to America 1 and 2, now its time for a film which turns things around. For so long the story has been Africans’ leaving the continent to find their fame fortune and love interest abroad.

Coming to Africa turns this around in a funny and and engaging way. A film by Anwar Jamison an up and coming American director who  wanted to disprove many of the misconceptions of Africa. The Memphis writer-director Jamison originally didn’t intend to star in his own new film, which debuted during the Indie Memphis Film Festival in October 2021. But he later went on to take the leading role and he seems to have done the movie justice.  Coming to Africa will get viewers talking — about Africa, about the African diaspora, about cultural, national and personal identity of what it is to be African and abroad.

The films stars Khalil Kain who has many credits under his name, from Juice the movie where he stared along side the late Tupac during the glory days of black American films in the 1990s to more recent hits as Girlfriends TV series. Alongside Anwar Jamison is also Powwah Uhuru, a spoken-word poet and the one and only Nana Ama McBrown who really helps to ground the film and provides some classic comedy moments.

Coming to Africa The Plot

Adrian (Anwar Jamison), a philandering financial executive, has spent his entire life shunning Black consciousness and chasing corporate success. Adrian’s brother, Buck (Khalil Kain), is an activist who routinely holds community meetings in his barber shop. After a perfect storm of disappointment and discrimination, Adrian finds himself in Ghana on an amusing adventure where he meets Akosua (Nana Ama McBrown) and finds nourishment for his soul.

Coming To Africa‘ was shot during the highly publicized Year of Return put together by the Government of Ghana to commiserate 400 years since the first enslaved African arrived in Jamestown Virginia in the United States. So the vibrancy of and energy of the year of return helps really show Ghana in all its glory.

The film is being screened at a number of festivals, and is now available to view at Silverbird WestHills Mall and Silverbird Accra Mall. Check here for movie times