Last year, it was announced that Donald Glover was filming a secret project in Cuba along with Rihanna. Titled Guava Island, the project was announced to reunite Glover with his Atlanta collaborator Hiro Murai, and also star Black Panther fan-favorite Letitia Wright. The film was also announced to be a “Childish Gambino film,” which had fans even more excited, as it would revolve around the comedian’s hip-hop persona. Outside of a trailer, talk of the film was quiet, until it came time for Glover’s performance at Coachella, where it was announced that the film would be released to coincide with Coachella. Unfortunately, for a film full of secrecy, there really wasn’t anything too special that was revealed.
The film follows Glover as a musician named Deni Maroon, who lives on the titular Guava Island and is a local celebrity there. As Deni prepares for a music festival that he’s preparing for the upcoming weekend, he’s kidnapped by his boss Red Cargo (Nonso Anozie), a business tycoon who doesn’t want the festival to run as it would cease productivity for the day, and attempts to bribe Deni into canceling it, despite the island looking forward to it. As he works on a song he promised his girlfriend Kofi (Rihanna) that he’d write, Deni is faced with a dilemma on his hands.
The film makes good on being a “Childish Gambino film,” as the film is essentially one giant vanity project for Glover. The film is mostly made up of songs already made by the actor, as well as new songs written for the project. And with a brief, 55-minute run time and multiple sequences dedicated to hearing Glover’s music, the film feels more like one giant music video rather than an actual film.
The musical sequences themselves are fairly entertaining, with some well choreographed dance numbers. The film even briefly recreates part of Glover’s acclaimed “This is America” music video in an extended sequence where the song is played and the dance seen in the music video is performed in the movie. There’s also a nice little sequence in which Letitia Wright hears Glover’s music on the radio and performs a brief dance to go along with it. While these moments ultimately do nothing to service the overall plot, they are at least a nice visual treat.
These music numbers make up for essentially a lackluster story line that really does not otherwise engage the audience. The film often feels like a “slice of life” sort of movie, just showing the day to day routine of Deni and Kofi on the island, and one wonders what the real conflict actually is, since the film mainly dedicates its time to speaking about Deni’s music and the aforementioned dance sequences. Even when Deni is told by Red Cargo to cancel the festival, the full extent of the stakes involved in this request aren’t truly felt in the exchange.
The film meanders and its message doesn’t become fully realized until the film’s third act, one that mirrors many real-life horrors that go on in the world today. The film ends on a hopeful note with a meaningful message. The issue is even with its very brief run time, it feels like it takes too long to get to that point.
Glover himself is fine here, making due of the little material he’s given to work with. He essentially plays a version of himself, so he feels natural, even if he’s limited. Rihanna isn’t the strongest actress and it’s painfully obvious in many points. She would have been better off getting her own share of song time, and it’s ironic that for a movie filled with so many extended musical sequences, she doesn’t get to sing in any of them. Meanwhile, Anozie is decent as Red Cargo, never really coming off as menacing, while Wright is criminally underused, with her one aforementioned dance scene that, while fun, doesn’t really advance the overall plot.
Guava Island has a nice message at the end of it, but it mostly feels like it was made more for Donald Glover himself rather than his fans. It contains some fun musical sequences, but they take up most of the movie and simply stretch out an already very brief run time. The rest of the film is filled with an unclear story, a talented actress who dances but whose acting is underused, as well as a talented singer who acts but whose singing is underused. Luckily it’s short enough that it’s worth looking into maybe once, but nothing beyond that.
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