Leke, a young photographer, doesn't seem to have life under control. Excelling in his professional career by opening exhibitions for his work but there is another side to Leke. His destructive personality leaves him unable to form any healthy relationships, as he floats around recreational drugs and one night stands. His life comes crashing down on him as he receives a call that his estranged father, who lives in his native country of Senegal, has passed away. Leke leaves behind his home for a temporary time and decides to go to Senegal to deal with the formalities of his father's death.
What struck instantly was the lack of dialogue throughout White Colour Black. For what seems to be a film of understanding and acceptance, it seems to struggle to convey its direction and what to expect of our characters, especially Leke in the entirety of the film. We know that dialogue isn't the only means of conveying emotion or direction of a film, but when the film struggles massively with an actor that is void of acting ability or strength to carry a film by their ability alone is a huge concern.
Whether the director and writer Joseph A. Adesunloye was expecting someone to carry the film's message home with little dialogue, then he made the wrong decision to cast Dudley O'Shaughnessy. It seems that throughout, there is very little range in the actor's bag to fully convince the audience that he is hurting from the loss of his father or seems lost. Due to this, it was really hard to connect with the character who seemed disconnected from everything around him. There was no standout moment to recall. It is such a shame as the synopsis sounded promising and one we were looking forward to covering.
The film itself struggles. Taking away the performances we see on screen. It seems that writer and director Adesunloye couldn't fit in any moments of importance. White Colour Black is full of unnecessary sex scenes that appear out of nowhere, with absolutely no context to the majority of them, it ends up putting you off. We're not quite sure what was to be achieved from all of the sex scenes, but if anything, it dampens the mood of the film and leaves an unsatisfying taste.
Dir: Joseph A. Adesunloye
Scr: Joseph A. Adesunloye
Cast: Dudley O'Shaughnessy, Wale Ojo, Sy Alassane
Prd: Joseph A. Adesunloye, Sy Alassane, Damian Antochewicz, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Baila Sy
DOP: Rory Skeoch
Music: Mathieu Karsenti
Country: England
Year: 2016
Runtime: 89 minutes
White Colour Black is available on Curzon Home Cinema on 19th February.
