By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Shola Amoo
Starring: Denise Black | Gbemisola Ikumelo | Nicholas Pinnock
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2020
Running time: 98
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7802246
Michael says: “THE LAST TREE is a coming-of-age story about a Nigerian-born boy named Femi who is growing up in England. For reasons we are not entirely certain of, Femi spends his early years in foster care with a nurturing white woman in rural England. When he is about ten-years-old, his mother decides it is time for Femi to come live with her in the city where she leaves him alone in an apartment all day, while she works long hours. Femi misses his foster mother and finds his mother’s ways harsh and unforgiving. As a teenager preparing to take his exams, Femi has grown up to be a sullen, angry young man will with resentment and anger, and nowhere to put it. But deep down, the boy who was raised in a nurturing environment yearns to break free.
“Writer/director Shola Amoo puts a lot of his own experiences into his second narrative, and he certainly shows the promise of a great filmmaker and a powerful visual storyteller here. What he needs is a stronger screenplay, or perhaps a story that isn’t so personal to him. There are some beautiful moments in THE LAST TREE, and ultimately a satisfying story, but there a lot of shorthand that comes across as simplistic and a bit cliche, and there’s certainly some racial and gender politics at play throughout, but the writing isn’t strong enough to really highlight those themes. The women in Femi’s life, notably his mother and foster mother are rather interesting characters, and seeing his mother’s story unfurl through Femi’s eyes is compelling. The acting is strong as well. Sam Adewunmi is particularly powerful as the teenaged Femi. He plays both intensely brooding persona, and a sensitive young man capable of joy and wonder easily, and morphs from one to the other believably. Gbemisola Ikumelo is saddled with a unforgiving mother role for a while, but she delivers as much nuance as the script allows, and as the story progresses, her performance is allowed to flourish. And Mary Black is terrific in her few scenes as Femi’s foster mother. While frustrating at times due to the clumsy screenplay, the visuals and the acting lift it to a level worth enjoying, and in addition to some possible acting nods, I’m thinking of both cinematography and editing as notable. 3.5 cats“