That one great African movie nobody talks about..

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]This right here is one of the opening shots of the best Kenyan movie from 2023 filmed and directed by Daudi Anguka. And tell me if you notice something strange and unique about it. And this other shot right here happens like 15 minutes later into the film. Look closely. Anything.

[00:00:14]Okay, pause. Let's start with the first one. Dodi Anguka has mastered the art of framing a subject in a shot to the point that you have no option but pay attention to it. In the first scene, we see Vera, the main subject, in focus.

[00:00:26]However, she doesn't make up a majority of the screen space. We have two massive blocks of pillars acting as the foreground. A burning go in the background barely in focus and another subject in frame who's not as much in focus as her but still shares an equal space within the shot. But somehow our eyes are all focused right at her. In film making this is called framing.

[00:00:45]Framing is a composition technique that uses elements within a scene such as doorways, branches, arways to create a frame within a frame directing focus towards the subject adding depth and providing context. This method isolates the subject, improves visual narrative, and enhances three-dimensionality. You can use shapes like circles, triangles, and in this case, a rectangle. But my favorite style from Daanguka is this shot right here, where we are having a dinner. Take a look at the texture and pattern. Everyone in the shot is wearing clothes of different colors, all mixed up and hard to spot, except our protagonist, Vera. She is in an orange top, almost matching the hue of the light in the shot. All right, incoming spoilers in 3 2 1. She matches the lighting because she is the only one amongst all the guests who is suspicious and curious of the situation. She has blended within the environment because she doesn't buy anything that is happening in front of her. It's almost as if like a chameleon, Vera chooses to blend with the background in order to root out the cancer and deception of Bon the Bey. This is an intentional choice between the director and the costume and set department to bring out that image to us.

[00:01:48]>> You see how in all my videos I always insist that the script is the most important part of a movie. If the story is [ __ ] the movie is [ __ ] That's just how it works. The script always comes first. You have a really bad problem of writing a script, the bad dialogue, and the completely stupid dog [ __ ] writing.

[00:02:05]Don't ever write another script. What happens when you are so good at your job, somewhat extremely perfect at directing, framing, blocking the actors, color grading, editing, and pacing. But you have been given a [ __ ] script to work with. You get this 23 movie called Vera.

[00:02:20]In Kenya, I can only name three good movies >> since the beginning of this overall.

[00:02:24]>> Since the be since 1963.

[00:02:27]>> Really?

[00:02:28]>> Rafiki 2018.

[00:02:30]>> Okay.

[00:02:30]>> Nairobi Halfife. Even though that was in Kenyan.

[00:02:33]>> Mhm.

[00:02:33]>> And uh Have you seen Vera?

[00:02:36]>> Vera >> 2023. Vera. Don't get me wrong, I still stick with these words. Vera is a good film. But I think the main thing that manages to put it on the same level with these three other productions is its visuals. specifically how Daudi Anguka, who happens to be the director and cinematographer of this movie, chooses to use color. Da Anguka delivered an almost perfect and flawless film that ticks all these boxes except this one right here. And it left a bitter taste in my mouth because I kept asking myself, what if? What if Doda Anguka actually knew how to write a script and tweak it into something better? What if better screenwriters that aren't these two bosses over here were tasked with writing a better script and helping bring Dai Anguka's vision to life actually did it? But you know what?

[00:03:15]Let's set this scripting for another video. I feel like I've done it to oblivion and I don't think it belongs here. Specifically when I'm talking about let's talk about something good that I've seen in this movie that I don't think that I see in many productions in Kenya. Framing and color.

[00:03:27]There are three factors in determining color in a film. Hue, saturation, and brightness. Hue, which is the color itself. Saturation is the intensity of the color. And brightness basically it's more of the shade of the color. With hue, saturation and brightness hbin shot, you can create a unique visual pattern and go from being a lame director with no visual identity to an at all. Color in movies are like a visual signature for the cinematographer and director. When you see this shot right here with no actors present, just background and maybe a location, you automatically know that this is a Wes Anderson movie. When you see this other shot right here, just by the colors alone, you can tell that this is a Wowski's production, one of the three Matrix movies. One popular formula to simplify color design is the 603010 rule. This is one of the oldest rules in art and you can see it in everything from paintings, arts and movies. The rule is simple. 60% of your movie is the dominant color. 30% is a secondary color and 10% is a highlight. The dominant 60% is responsible for the mood and vibe of the movie. It needs to pop out and scream the most. The 30% secondary color always complements the majority while the 10% adds that pop and vibrancy that forces you to focus on a subject. The reason why I call Vera the most visually goddess film from a Kenyan is because cinematographer and director Deodi Anguka has mastered this art of the 603010 color rule. Yo, I'm not even making this up. This is the only Kenyan movie since Independence that actually has a memorable color palette. The Anguka sticks to this rule. For the dominant color, he goes either white or teal. For the secondary color, he almost always goes all shades of brown. And well, the highlight color kind of changes, but I've seen a lot of green here and there. I'm pretty sure this was not in any way subconscious and it was 100% intentional. Not only does he have a unique color palette, he integrates it with how he frames the subject. The highlight color is always center framed.

[00:05:07]So, a mixture of good framing incorporating the color palettes within everything in the shot and an intentional stubbornness to stick to it equals the Anguka style.

[00:05:17]>> Like I mentioned earlier, Wes Anderson has created his own style and formalism.

[00:05:21]Zack Snder has the Snider often depicted by low saturation, slow motion, and dark moody tone. But my favorite one is Baym by Michael Bay.

[00:05:38]>> I don't know what exactly I can call Dodanga style, but clearly he has a formula. Granted, I haven't watched any other of his works because I find Kenyan TV's shows boring and a waste of time, but what he did in Vera was remarkable to the point that it inspired me to have my own visual language. Now, seriously, check this out. All right, let me show you something. This is how my videos normally look before I start color grading, before I start color correcting and adding all the palettes. It looks like [ __ ] It looks like the Kenya Konza government. Dull, boring, uninteresting, and depressing. But I figured something.

[00:06:08]I want people to know that they are watching a Sagini Megan review just by one shot, just by one second. One second you see this [ __ ] [ __ ] face on your screen, you know that this is a Sagin movie review. How could I do that? How do I do that? How do I distinct myself from other normal filmmakers? I figured out, let me create my own color palette.

[00:06:25]It's mostly gray curtains, gray couch, and I mostly wear dull colors like black or gray or I don't know with my brown skin and a prop here and there. Like today I have this teddy bear prop and mostly my Rubik's cube. So the primary color, the main focus is this gray palette, gray curtains, gray couch and a gray clothing. Then I use my secondary color with my skin brown or a different clothing that I'm wearing and a highlight color which is normally that white shade of the wall right here or a prop I'm carrying or this thing right over here. Don't ask me how I got it. I just found it there. Point is, I managed to create my own 603010 color palette.

[00:07:05]So the color palette what what makes you decide that I want to use this thing I want to go this route I want to dress my actors this way I want to put this lights this cue >> one one question I asked them they should understand that we are doing a local story and when we are doing a local story we want the audience to fall in love with each and every department I wanted to have shorts which for me I I won't say they are technical shots simple well-framed shots each bring out the emotions of each and every scene, emotions of each and every character and and even with the color palette which we we we were having a discussion with my colorist, I wanted everything to feel qual cuz cuz when I'm doing my my feeling most of the time I create my own style and see how it will work and and for me I think that was powerful and and after shooting that movie for a whole one month working on the post production and releasing the project. I was just getting reviews uh some good reviews cuz it really did well in in South Africa.

[00:08:11]>> The point I'm trying to make is one of the main reasons why Kenyan movies look so bad and feel like [ __ ] is because I don't even think anyone ever takes their time to focus on this stuff on set.

[00:08:20]Believe it or not, Deodanguka has done two things that I don't think any Kenyan director will ever do. Inspire me to become a filmmaker because of how he frames his subjects and everything on screen and how he chooses to have a visual style. And number two, like Alia said, he's in my opinion the first and only ever Kenyan at tour. Maybe someday I'll actually get to review this movie and give it a proper rating and break down its plots and themes and characters and world building. But for today, all I can say is I love how this movie looks.

[00:08:49]>> All right, let me show you something.

[00:08:51]This is how my [ __ ] [ __ ] Okay.

[00:08:56]All right, let me show you something.

[00:08:58]This is how my videos normally.