Despite being available in some nations much later, Sincerely Daisy was initially released in 2020.
Nick Mutuma produced and directed it, making it the first Kenyan feature film to be made available on Netflix.
One of the most eagerly awaited movies to be released in October 2022 features the titular young woman, played by Ellah Maina, and has a running period of 1 hour and 27 minutes.
With its “strong” emphasis on Swahili and Kenyan accents and “meant to export our African culture,” Mutuma began the film by describing it as one to set an example. With a large number of fresh faces on screen, it succeeds in achieving the representation it aimed for in the worldwide market, but the responses the film drew were wildly disparate.
To put it simply, the film has a simple coming-of-age plot in which the title character, who has just graduated from high school, looks for job options in China.
Her desire to advance to a different, new, and unfamiliar location raises her mother’s anxiety and causes her to withdraw, but her father is more than prepared to support her endeavors despite the ongoing financial crisis, which first presents a worrisome front.
Daisy is glad to introduce her parents, beginning with the picture of a completely content and healthy connection between them.
It shows a well-known ignorance on her part, similar to that of many kids who are blissfully oblivious of the disastrous misfires their parents keep hidden from them out of love and worry.
The most heartwarming and realistic images of the movie are probably those that she shares with her family.
Probably the warmest and most realistic sequences in the movie are the ones she has with her family. Development in the mother-daughter connection is also shown by the exchanges that are exchanged between them, which are the only forgiving aspect of the story until the very end.
However, even for fiction, the protagonist’s early narration is too constrained and melodramatic.
It does, however, put her in the thick of things because most teenagers think of themselves as the protagonists of their own story, with everything else happening around them.
The movie advances and pushes for the love interest subplot, channeling the same energy despite their assurances of the future, even though it already feels erratic and shallow.
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Although the character’s goal to perfect her acting skills abroad is an unusual ideal desire, the follow-up to that succumbs to a cringe-inducing exaggeration.
No time is given to go deeper into the seeming sincerity of some characters’ friendships, which is the foundation of the soul of a coming-of-age movie. Instead, the depth of the friendships is only felt during the final farewell moments.
Short-lived light humor and positive family dynamics cannot support the movie by themselves.
Given that it’s intended for the camera rather than to be staged like a play, the acting sometimes appears forced and a lot more theatrical.
The movie isn’t particularly a unique addition to the category of its genre, putting aside the assumption that it’s a representative Kenyan production.
The plot of these movies is mostly driven by the protagonist’s internal conflict and monologue, as well as the dynamics of their relationships.
Sincerely Daisy, despite being named as if it were a series of journal entries or a letter addressed to the viewers about her personal thoughts, fails to sufficiently delve into the adolescent’s struggle, failing to evoke a sense of relatability at its core, despite having emotion as its primary focus.
The movie doesn’t treat its characters on an equal footing since it sticks to tired clichés of dysfunctional friendships.
Though coming-of-foundation age’s is based on viewing characters as people first, the movie arbitrarily chooses teams and is more interested in failing friendships than forging them. Despite the fact that most of us would take snide pleasure in making fun of such things and playing the “she deserved it” card, this is contrary to the film’s focus on seeing characters as people first.
Synopsis
The film revolves around the life of a happy high school graduate (Daisy) played by Ella Maina, whose dreams, expectations, passion, and confidence are significantly affected by family and romantic drama.
Crew
Directed by: Nick Mutuma
Screenplay by: Natasha Likimani
Produced by: Nick Mutuma
Music by: Timothy Rimbui
Starring: Ellah Maina
Content courtesy of Leisure Byte & NFH
