Who's in it?
Genevieve Nnaji, Osita Iheme, Edward Kagutuzi, Fatima Jabbee

What's the plot?

‘The Mirror Boy’ is a mystical journey through Africa, seen through the eyes of a 12 year old boy, Tijan.

After a London street fight, in which a local boy is hurt, Tijan's mother decides to take him back to their roots, to Gambia.

On their arrival in Banjul, Tijan encounters a strange apparition, a boy smiling at him in a mirror and vanishing. Seeing the same boy in a crowded street market the next day sets in motion a chain of events, with Tijan finding himself lost.

While Tijan's panic-stricken mother struggles to find her son, Tijan is left alone in the company of the enigmatic Mirror Boy, seemingly only visible to him. After a bruising spiritual rite of passage, The Mirror Boy takes Tijan on a mystical journey, but not all is what it seems.

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BBFC Consumer Advice
Contains mild language, racist attitudes, violence and threat.
For more information on film classification, please click here

I expected more from this one. It just failed to shine in any deparment. The acting was noticably weak all round, the direction and camerawork bland (they pointed the camera at the actors and the actors said their lines, end of story) and while some of the Gambia sets were quite attractive, nothing was really outstanding. The picture painted of Gambia also resembled a prejudiced Westerner's stereotype – a land where you risked capture and murder at the hands of painted tribesmen if you walked into a rural village just a few kilometres from the capital. Ironically, the film was part-funded by the Gambia Tourist Board. The story, involving voodoo magic and a wandering little-boy spirit, as well as Macbeth style carnage to secure the tribal royal throne, was an unconvincing mixture of medieval hokum and modern Arican life. It lacked conviction or, to be brutally honest, very much interest. For some reason the lines of the young boy 'spirit' were subtitled, although his diction was little worse than that of many of the other characters. The director clearly panicked on seeing the rushes and added the subtitles as an afterthought. I felt the whole thing was of roughly the standard of an extended first-year film school project, where the director's buddies are press-ganged into doing a bit of acting. A missed opportunity to properly launch African cinema on to the international stage.

Wow, what a great little film and it was packed. I never expected it to be half as good as it was but it was really funny and actually quite moving.

IGotta be honest though I would never have seen this film if I didnt want to win the trip to Africa, but it was worth it even if I dont win.

I hope more people get to see Mirror Boy and dont think because it hasnt got any big names in it that its not worth it. Loved it and makes a change from the usual rubbish with all the bug stars.