The Sweetest Mango (2001)
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The Sweetest Mango Movie Review
The Sweetest Mango is a 2001 romantic drama film directed by Howard Allen and starring Jermilla Kirwan and Mitzi Allen. It’s a technically inferior, but charming feature.
The movie tells the story of Lovelyanne Davies, who returns from Canada to Antigua and her struggles to adjust to life on a small island. It follows her professional turmoil and personal drama, including being caught in an unexpected love triangle. This was the very first and so far only feature film made in Antigua and Barbuda, which is this very small island nation with the population of around 100 thousand people.
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Thus, I am going to have to take into account the historicity of this film and be less critical about its failings. Let’s talk about the negative aspects first. When you think about such a small country that also largely depends on tourism to sustain its economy, you of course cannot expect any reasonable budget given for this movie.
The result is a film that is very amateurish in its cinematography with the camera moving very awkwardly and rarely. The cheapness of the film is evident in its every frame. There is also the problem with the dialogue. At first I’d thought that the acting must be terrible, but actually that wasn’t the case because Kirwan and Allen both deliver solid performances and are very charming in their roles.
It is actually the dialogue that made me think the actors were bad as it was so unrealistic, one-note and just weak. The directing from Howard Allen is also quite mediocre. But on the other hand, I loved the soundtrack as it evoked so pleasantly the feeling of being on a summer vacation with those catchy and exotic beats.
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The Sweetest Mango started off in such a charming fashion as we followed the two girls who are best friends sharing a wonderful conversation about their lives, but when a love triangle was introduced the movie became more clichéd and less interesting. The pacing is also ridiculously slow. The film tried desperately to work as a marketing tool for Antigua, but that approach also led to such an earnest, wonderfully patriotic take on the importance of home and how going back will always be nostalgic to all of us.
The Sweetest Mango is a weakly written romantic drama that benefits strongly from its exotic location, a great soundtrack and a very charming atmosphere. It’s a cheaply made movie technically speaking with often questionable dialogue, but it is populated by such likable characters and an earnest tone that made it difficult not to like it despite its many flaws.
My Rating – 3.5
This is the 9th film in my American Cinema Marathon where I will watch one film from each American country every day. Next up is 🇨🇦.
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