Queen of Glory

Plot

Sarah Obeng is a doctoral student in neuro-oncology at Columbia University. She plans to abandon her program and relocate to Ohio, where her colleague and boyfriend Lyle, whom she expects to divorce with his current wife, has been offered a post. Her mother dies unexpectedly, and Sarah inherits her house and a Christian bookstore named King of Glory in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx, which she decides to sell. Sarah's father returns from Ghana, and she holds a wake at the house, but relatives insist a traditional Ghanaian funeral take place. The bookstore's sole employee is Pitt, an ex-convict. Sarah befriends him, and withholds her plan to sell the store from him.

Cast

• Nana Mensah as Sarah Obeng
• Meeko Gattuso as Pitt
• Oberon K. A. Adjepong as Godwin Obeng
• Adam Leon as Lyle Cummings
• Russell G. Jones as Hezekiah Falusi
• Anya Migdal as Tanya Malinova

Production

Mensah began writing the screenplay in 2012, after showing her script of "a lavish $100 million biopic" set in 1940s Ghana to a filmmaker friend and being told that, in order to get it made, she needed to make a smaller film first. Mensah initially did not intend to direct the film, but she decided to do so after failing to find a director who shared her vision. She was also "on the fence" about starring in the film, so her involvement as the writer-director-star was "a budgetary necessity".

Filming took place in the Bronx in 2014. The bookstore, King of Glory, was owned by Mensah's aunt and uncle. Expenses for post-production were raised through crowdfunding on Kickstarter in 2015. Describing the financing process, Mensah said, "It was extremely hard to raise the money ... we bootstrapped it and took meetings with friends of friends and asked people to introduce us to other people so we could maximize our network. That's how we found a group of investors. Then we did Kickstarter and then we put in money ourselves."

Anya Migdal, who plays a Russian-speaking neighbor and also produced the film, and Mensah met in an acting class. Mensah said they "bonded over our frustrations of being intelligent women who were not being asked to ever explore that side of ourselves in our acting roles".

The archival footage of Ghanaian gatherings interspersed throughout the film was curated by Rita Mawuena Benissan, an archivist Mensah connected with on Instagram. Mensah conceived of using archival footage in the editing stage. She described the footage as a "link to the old country" in a film "about the new world".

Release

In April 2021, Magnolia Pictures International acquired worldwide and US sales rights to the film. In February 2022, Film Movement acquired the US rights. The film was released at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn on July 15, 2022, expanding to other US cities in the subsequent weeks.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84%, based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10.

Nick Schager of Variety wrote, "Mensah evokes the intricate ties that bind immigrants to their heritages, and the way those connections can both aid and hinder personal growth and progress. The writer-director's concise storytelling captures that complicated stew with next to no wasted gestures or diversions".

Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "avoids the usual tropes of 'West Africans in America' narratives by leaning into the small details of Ghanaian life", and called the film "tightly conceived, witty and compassionate" and "a love letter to children of Ghanaian immigrants and to the Bronx".

Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com described the film as "like watching a well-oiled sitcom in which all of the performers are playing off of each other so beautifully they hardly seem to be acting at all". Lisa Kennedy of The New York Times wrote, "Mensah traverses the polyglot turf well, infusing details with astute affection and understated laughs".

Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "Mensah looks in loving yet critical detail at the milieu in which she herself was raised and, working with the cinematographer Cybel Martin, realizes a distinctive style that's as memorable as the drama".

References

References

1. Hipes, Patrick. (June 24, 2021). "Tribeca Festival Winners: 'Catch The Fair One' And 'Blind Ambition' Nab Audience Awards, Joining Juried Nods For 'The Novice', 'Brighton 4th', 'Ascension'". Deadline.
2. (March 6, 2022). "Spirit Awards Winners: Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Lost Daughter' Wins Best Feature — Full List". IndieWire.
3. Mensah, Nana (February 17, 2015). "Queen of Glory's Post-Production Campaign!". Kickstarter. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
4. Lang, Brent. (June 15, 2021). "Nana Mensah Didn't Just Star in 'Queen of Glory.' She Also Wrote, Directed and Raised the Money to Make It". Variety.
5. Slater, Shane. (June 18, 2021). "Tribeca Interview: Nana Mensah Discusses her Unexpected Directorial Debut 'Queen of Glory'". Awards Radar.
6. Iheanyichukwu, Wisdom. (July 19, 2022). "Nana Mensah's ''Queen Of Glory'' Is A Love Letter To Ghana & The Bronx". Refinery29.
7. Rodriguez, ET. (July 16, 2022). "Screening this weekend, new indie film 'Queen of Glory' revolves around Allerton bookstore". Bronx Times.
8. Obenson, Tambay A. . (March 5, 2015). "Crowdfund This: Dark Comedy About Maladjusted PhD Student Who Becomes Sole Proprietor of Christian Bookstore". Shadow and Act.
9. Lamour, Joseph. (March 10, 2015). "A New York City woman just made the kind of movie Hollywood never wants to make.". Upworthy.
10. Anaza, Kathleen. (July 24, 2022). "With ''Queen of Glory'', Nana Mensah Tells Her Own Kind of Immigrant Story". Vogue.
11. Grobar, Matt. (April 22, 2021). "Magnolia Pictures International Acquires Worldwide, U.S. Sales Rights To Tribeca Comedy 'Queen Of Glory'". Deadline.
12. Grobar, Matt. (February 28, 2022). "Film Movement Acquires Nana Mensah's Spirit Award-Nominated Dramedy 'Queen Of Glory'". Deadline.
13. Goldsmith, Jill. (July 15, 2022). "'Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris' Opens With Charm, Strong Word of Mouth In Still-Challenged Arthouse Scene – Specialty Preview". Deadline.
14. "Queen of Glory". Rotten Tomatoes.
15. Schager, Nick. (June 15, 2021). "'Queen of Glory' Review: A Winning Indie About Immigrant Identity". Variety.
16. Gyarkye, Lovia. (June 22, 2021). "'Queen of Glory': Film Review {{!}} Tribeca 2021". The Hollywood Reporter.
17. Sobczynski, Peter. (June 23, 2021). "A Look Back at Tribeca 2021: The Narrative Features". RogerEbert.com.
18. Kennedy, Lisa. (July 14, 2022). "'Queen of Glory' Review: Back to the Bronx". The New York Times.
19. Brody, Richard. (July 22, 2022). "Queen of Glory".