During South Africa's apartheid era, a government subsidy program known as the B-scheme provided funding for low-budget township films. Made mostly by white filmmakers, these largely apolitical films were designed to entertain Black audiences and to make money, and they succeeded at both aims, but by the 1990s, most of them had disappeared from circulation. That includes this series of misadventures starring amusing bumblers Nkinsela (Masoja Mota) and Upondo, aka Mpondo (Ndaba Mhlongo, a Tony Award-nominated choreographer for the 1988 Broadway production of Sarafina!). Waterfront Film Studios in conjunction with Cape Town's Gravel Road Entertainment Group has restored, remastered, and released Upondo & Nkinsela as part of IndiePix's Retro Afrika banner. Instead of a feature, this 1984 collection from writer-director Bernard Buys (Savage Encounter) features 13 comic set pieces or sketches divided by chapter headings.
Though the stories and locations vary, a consistently absurdist tone combined with a rinky-dink, toy instrument-style score compensates for the lack of a distinct beginning or ending. Compact Nkinsela, clad in plaid sports jacket and tropical shirt, and lanky, gap-toothed Mpondo, clad in ever-present fedora and a trench coat gifted by his great-great-grandfather, don't grow or change; they just tangle with different marks for each of their money-making schemes. In that sense, they recall Fred and Lamont of the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son, not least because Nkinsela looks a little like a young Redd Foxx. In a particularly odd touch, their mascot is a transistor radio-like device (voiced by Joe Mafela) that lives in Mpondo's pocket. In a hilariously high-pitched voice, it provides color commentary on the action. Overall, there's little character development, and nor is it necessary. It's clear that these simple-minded gentlemen aren't thieves or bullies, they're just willing to do anything to make a buck: chauffeuring a bride to her wedding, entertaining a rich man’s daughter, and posing as hairdressers and TV repairmen.
Every one of their schemes falls flat, but there’s no malice on their part. Sometimes their victims even turn the tables. In "Vendors," when a father entreats one of the men to marry his sullen, pregnant daughter, happy-go-lucky bachelors Mpondo and Nkinsela are so rattled, they drop their case of shoes and beat a hasty retreat. Father and daughter have a laugh at their expense as the latter removes the pillow from under her shirt. Other mishaps involve Nkinsela getting his hand stuck in a vending machine and Mpondo's unsuccessful attempt to disguise himself as a woman while working as a department store security guard. The production values may be minimal, but the performers are game and the pace never flags, though the lack of a commentary track feels like a missed opportunity. This kind of project would benefit from greater context regarding the filmmaker, the actors, and the state of moviemaking in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Recommended.