Debut film of twin Nigerian brothers Arie & Chuko Esiri* is fittingly a twinned story; fraternal not identical. DESIRE both a portrait of two disparate personalities and of Lagos, Nigeria. The first, and more original of the two, is something of a Book of Job update about a single forty-something man,,a naturally gifted electrician trying to get everything together for his move to Spain. But a series of tragedies and losses take away almost everything he has: sister & nephews, inheritance, job, cash reserves, all of it playing out in a slow motion series of unforced errors. But it’s his demeanor (calmly accepting, stoic; with one exception) and the way he manages to be down & out yet holding his head above water that sustain interest; along with the portrait of life in Lagos. If this man can carry on . . . The second story navigates the fast swings from favor to failure of a younger woman, a bartender with fashion model looks, who longs to run a dress-shop in Italy, but has nothing but trouble trying to put together the forms needed to travel out of the country and restart her life in a more promising fashion. It’s those good looks that lead to the troubles, constantly proposed for dates, but not proposals. Except from the guy she doesn’t want: her landlord. What about that White American with a crush and a hefty wallet? Meanwhile, her younger sister has tied herself up in an iffy pregnancy and a baby-selling racket. Here, the twins preference for indirection/indication rather than clarity leaves a few too many unfilled holes, but there’s enough to hang on to. (And the first story also get a hopeful epilogue.) Easy to forget how one of film’s earliest appeals came from its ability to bring the world to viewers in costumes, customs, cultures and countries we might not otherwise experience. The Esiri brothers have mastered that part already.
DOUBLE-BILL: *CLARISSA, their free adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY, a hot item at this year’s Cannes.
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