Movie Review: 'Vaya' stands out for portraying Jozi, warts, beauty & all

Director Akin Omotoso's ‘Vaya’ treads a well-trodden path with its 'Big City dreams turn sour' plot

10 September 2017 - 00:00 By Pearl Boshomane

Jimmy comes to Joburg is a tale as old as time, one as cliched as the phrase used in this sentence. The story of a naive, well-intentioned someone from a rural someplace who makes their way to the Big City only to be dizzied by all the lights has been told countless times across different mediums.
"Jimmy comes to Joburg" is a phrase I grew up hearing but until recently had no clue that it referred to the title of the film Jim Comes to Jo'burg from 1949, one of the first full-length features made in South Africa.
Now, nearly seven decades later, director Akin Omotoso brings the idea of Jimmy backto the big screen, but instead of focusing on one story, Vaya weaves together threenarratives of people who arrive in Johannesburg on the same day, each for a different reason...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.