Debut: 'Kimono Kid'
While the federal capital of Nigeria, Abuja, is one of the wealthiest cities in Africa, 63% of Nigerians still live in severe poverty. 68% of that total population are children living in financially dire straits. When young people struggle, those who can lift them up become more important than ever, Josef Adamu’s directorial debut with Kimono Kid (2024) examines the impact those people can have on the younger generation.
Kimono Kid follows a young man, simply named Kimono Kid (Gilchrist Emeremgini) living in Lagos, a city in Nigeria. The short film follows him as he attends a kung fu class, inspired by his late father’s love of the martial arts-based film genre.
The film is an engaging reflection on discipline and confidence, especially in a lost young man who struggles to find himself in an uncertain and lonely world. This is fittingly captured in the opening scene of the film which finds Kimono Kid sitting in his room alone, thinking about his father.
Through narration, Kimono Kid mentions that his father died years ago and that his strongest memory with him is watching kung fu movies together when he was younger. Interestingly, the flashback the audience sees of a young Kimono Kid watching movies with his father is the only time in the short film he is seen smiling and energetic.
This serves as a poignant reflection on the power of a familial relationship and how much losing a loved one can impact a person. Kimono Kid did not just lose his father but also his source of joy and entertainment. Kimono Kid’s memories bring the viewer back to the present day as he slowly dresses himself and leaves for kung fu lessons.
Kimono Kid’s journey to his martial arts class is a moment for Adamu to show the beauty and poverty of Lagos. Sweeping wide shots show colorful houses and buildings only for a cut to a marketplace to show the dirty aluminum roofing and the trash littering the dusty streets. An almost symmetrical shot of leather handbags and suitcases carefully organized and stacked to the point of extending above the camera’s frame is juxtaposed with the vendor wiping his sweat drenched brow, implying a long day of work already in progress.
Adamu was raised in Canada and Kimono Kid allowed him to reconnect with his roots according to his director statement. These shots exemplify that, eschewing the often criticized “poverty porn” of Nigeria to show the subtle real-world beauty that lies in the unlikeliest of places.
The viewer is then introduced to the surprisingly thriving martial arts scene of Lagos. Children of all ages, boys and girls alike, practice fighting, endurance and other forms of kung fu training. As Kimono Kid trains, the audience is introduced to his sensei, the man he refers to as the closest thing he now has to a father figure.
As Kimono Kid’s sensei works with him on punches, he speaks about the importance of confidence and how every motion in kung fu must be performed with the utmost deliberateness and confidence. In a close up shot, the sensei and Kimono Kid clench their hands into fists, mirroring one another, implying a sense of unity and belonging found through the martial art form.
Kimono Kid is preparing himself for a kung fu showdown at a stadium the next day, and as he practices his breath control and fighting stance, the audience sees a visible transformation take place. The film ends as it began, in Kimono Kid’s room. Only this time his movements are calculated and deliberate— like his sensei taught him. Adamu shows this new sense of confidence through Kimono Kid’s improved posture and graceful movements while dressing himself once more, this time in his kung fu robes.
Kimono Kid shows the power of finding one's inner self and the power that can give. Through well-paced and cut flashbacks to meaningful tight shots and powerful narration, Adamu reminds the viewer to find theirkung fu, some task tied to a meaningful person or memory, and find the discipline and self-worth hidden within it.
