Sightlines · reception
How On Becoming a Guinea Fowl was received
2024 · Rungano Nyoni · On Becoming a Guinea Fowl on Sightlines
The arc
Premiered at Cannes 2024, where Nyoni took the Un Certain Regard directing prize, then slow-rolled into a March 2025 A24 release — where it quietly became one of the best-reviewed films of the year that almost nobody actually saw.
What’s debated
The recurring fan gripe isn't about the film, it's about everyone else: 'why is nobody talking about this?' — the under-seen-masterpiece discourse, plus perennial debate over its whiplash tonal swing between deadpan comedy and something much darker.
Its footprint
Its instantly meme-able image is the opening shot: a woman driving alone at night in full Missy Elliott inflatable-costume regalia — the still that launched a thousand Letterboxd reviews and most of the poster art.
Where it stands
A canon climber and Letterboxd critical darling — the film that cemented Nyoni's two-for-two auteur status after I Am Not a Witch, and a reliable 'you haven't seen it?!' pick among festival-followers.
Did you know? On Becoming a Guinea Fowl was Susan Chardy's first-ever acting role — and it won her the 2024 British Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performance.
Named by the director
- Federico Fellini — Nyoni has repeatedly cited Fellini's surrealism as her touchstone — joking that after her first film someone warned her she 'shouldn't watch so much Fellini' because she was trying to do the same thing.