On Becoming a Guinea Fowl · reception & legacy

How On Becoming a Guinea Fowl has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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.

Named by the director

Influences Rungano Nyoni has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• 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.