Cape Town — Another spell of African movies awaits to enchant via your screen...
Kenya, it's your time to stand up!
Netflix has premiered Kenya's first-ever locally made film Sincerely, Daisy. The one-and-a-half-hour film is written by scriptwriter Natasha Likimani and directed by Nick Mutuma. The film was inspired by a Chinese drama series, A Love for Separation.
Have you ever feel like your life is cursed with bad luck and it's damn happening at the same time? If your answer is yes, then this is the movie for you.
The coming-of-age movie revolves around Daisy, played by Ella Maina, a high school graduate who is looking up to a promising future, but life has its own plans. Through a series of unfortunate events, Daisy faces challenges. Firstly, her parents are struggling to pay for her tuition for university in Beijing, China making her dream of studying abroad shattered. Her strict mom is struggling but compelled to accept separation from her for the sake of better education abroad. Secondly, she faces betrayal and jealousy as she loses her boyfriend and a lead role in a play to her one of her best friends. Life was just knocking her down at every turn.
Initially, there was much anticipation for the film and it provoked huge excitement on social media, until the conversations started changing course.
@PabloJohny wrote - After watching "Sincerely Daisy", I wondered if that was what Kenya had to offer on Netflix. I gave it a 1/10. That was such a disappointment the storyline was. I had to forward the entire movie. The only thing I loved was the production. Kenyan producers, up to your game!
@thehaiweii - Sincerely daisy is trash. Let's not applaud mediocrity plz
@OliverMathenge - My 'Sincerely Daisy' rating is 4/10. Technical quality is very good. But the plot and the acting not so much. Within the first 10 minutes, the mystery disappears making it a feel good movie. Most of the acting was more of theatre than screen.
Just when you thought the reviews couldn't get any worse, things take an ugly turn after 2017's sexual assault claims leveled against Nick Mutuma resurfaced. People on Twitter demanded accountability and pushed for a boycott of this movie. At least two women said the actor had sexually assaulted them.
Enraged activists called for the movie to be removed and created the hashtag #BoycottNickMutuma to amplify their demands. Mutuma denied the allegations, saying it impacted his personal and professional life.
One of the women named in the accusations, Rachel Mwangi, shocked many as she came out to address to the issue.
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In a series of tweets, Mwangi said that they had resolved the issue amicably and privately in 2017.
She wrote: "I want to be very clear; I would never allow the voices of any victims to be silenced. I believe in accountability and I believe that any person that perpetrates any form of violence or assault must be held accountable. However, this is not such an incident. I thought I had put this behind me and moved on, until the issue recently resurfaced on social media."
Mutuma thanked her in his Twitter reply, and released a statement: "I know I am not perfect but I'm not the person these people portray me as. I work towards being a better person but it is so hard to do that when you are constantly being pulled back by people that are convinced you are the monster."
Altogether, Sincerely, Daisy is a feel-good movie with a happy ending for Daisy, but we hope those mentioned in the sexual assault accusations navigate their way through their challenges.
