PARADISE hooked me from the opening moments when a young man races in a boat to a burning cargo ship ship in the ocean. It is one of the most visually arresting things I've seen in a while, and if Oscar noticed films like this it would be the moment the film became an Oscar contender for best cinematography. Beyond the near perfect marriage of sound and image, PARADISE has a killer story.
Nominally the film is the story of missing fathers. Kojo is in Ghana and is torn between the traditional life that his fisherman father lives and the street gang who fills his time when his dad is out to sea. At the same time we get the story of Tony, a teen in Canada who discovers his mother is having a relationship with a sea captain.
I will not say any more about the plot. I say this because what happens is not what you expect and the result is like a punch in the face. It speaks volumes that director ends the film without music and just let's us sit in the darkness. This is a story unlike anything we seen before and it is wonderful.
As I sit here writing this I am trying to find the words to express how much I like this, but I find I am too deep under the emtional spell this film has cast to do so. I know it's early into 2026 but I have penbciled this into my list of the best films of 2026
See this film. More to the point - if you can see it on a big screen see it in a darkened theater where it will get inside you and haunt your soul.
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