“Of Good Report”, set in the Eastern Cape, written and directed by a native of EC, Jahmil XT Qubeka, is a twisted funny film with puns and innuendo galore, gritty-realism, arty farty aspirations and yet still accessible dark-drama that ranks as one of the best SA films I’ve seen this year.
To think that the film was made for under 200 000 the cast, crew and creatives have really created something special - it may have some faults but its some works way better than its faults.
Jahmil’s choice to treat it like a noir film is brilliant - it not only marks it apart from other films but plays well with the subject matter. Noir films were popular in the US 1940’s.The films were shot in black and white, played on the concept of light and dark - both thematically and how they were shot.
The films dealt with societies' underbelly issues and had over-sexualized female leads known as femme fatales. They used their sexuality as a weapon against the male. Some classic noir films include The Postman Rings Twice, The Big Sleep - there’s been noir films post the 1940’s like Body Heat, A History of Violence, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In “Of Good Report” our femme fatale is the young school girl Nolitha, played by a very beautiful and talented Petronella Tshuma .
Nolitha ‘s name is a throwback to the classic book Lolita ,whereby the student seduces her school teacher. Here Nolitha is the over-sexualized teenager who's aware of the strength and power of her sexuality and becomes the target for Parker Sithole’s lust and deep seated issues.
Our leading man, unlike most noir films, is not virtuous or in search of truth but slowly going down a big dark rabbit hole into his own issues with the external characters just tools to expose his underlying issues.
Mothusi Magano seems to be born to play Parker Sithole. Parker Sithole is like an extreme of his character of Mingus from The Lab series. A man inept when it comes to social interaction, which is clearly translated through him hardly ever speaking in the film. Mothusi has that strong presence - you know what he is feeling and thinking without him ever having to say anything. A clever conceit and a well crafted film.
Most low budget films in SA tend to look and feel like TV drama-cum-soapies masquerading as film - especially when it comes to the look and feel of the film aka the aesthetics. Qubheka's film, from the first shot, hits you with the style that he's going for. He's not afraid to hold on to shots for long and let scenes unfold.
The soundtrack is both haunting and exotic which adds to its arty farty aspirations and dream sequences which are handled cleverly and don’t feel heavy handed. Basically the film is cleverly crafted and its in the moments of drama and stillness that one appreciates it.
The only snag in the film is that it drags a bit towards the end, due to the film trying to tie up all the loose threads, instead of having an open ended ending that could have been more compelling.
The other snag is that the reason why Nolitha gravitates to Parker is not clear. Those are the only two snags for me in the film, otherwise than that the film is gold and speaks to the South African experience.Espicially when it comes to high school sexuality, teacher-student relationships and SA's long history of violence that is entrached in males.