Directed by Toka McBaror, Underbelly is a period film set in 1976, using the approaching FESTAC event as a backdrop. Ojo (Femi Adebayo) and Afang (Smart Conrad) journey from the Southern region of Nigeria to the North to work in a leather-making factory. The friends hope to make enough money to attend the Second World African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) taking place in Lagos at the beginning of the next year. Their arrival at the factory is not warmly welcomed by the locals and co-workers, especially with reckless Afang’s philandering escapades with other people’s wives. Also, they unknowingly…
Author: Ayodele Olawumi
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Netflix is the international streaming platform with the most Nollywood movies, consisting of an impressive catalogue of post-theatrical licenses and original titles. Curating from an extensive list, these are some of the best Nigerian films available to stream on Netflix The Best Nigerian Films on Prime Video Netflix’s Next Big Move: Akin Omotoso and Ochre Media to Bring Literature to the Screen in Multiple-title Book Adaptation Partnership Kasala (2018) Kasala is a funny coming-of-age story directed by Ema Edosio Deelen. Youngster, Tunji and his buddies take his no-nonsense uncle’s car to a party. Things take a turn for the worse…
Zambia’s first Netflix feature film, by homegrown director Kenny Mumba, chooses to explore a poignant issue in Zambian society (and the African society at large, especially Southern and Eastern Africa): the negative stigma experienced by people living with albinism. Using the life of popular Zambian singer, John Chiti, as inspiration, the film, written by Lawrence R.J. Thompson, depicts the life of a boy living with albinism whose unwavering resilience helps him to defy all adversity in a society that would rather have nothing to do with him. Everything You Need to Know About ‘Can You See Us?’, First Zambian Film…
Lola (Yvonne Jegede) takes her two kids, inquisitive and adventurous Funke (Pamilerin Ayodeji) and smart and logical Habib (Mofiyinfoluwa Asenuga) to Ondo to spend the holidays with their grandmother (Ayo Mogaji) and also to give her some space to properly evaluate her career and relationship with their father. Funke and Habib quickly settle in as their adventure kicks off the very next day. Enthralled by a neighbour’s tales about the Igbo Irunmole, Funke is convinced about the existence of mythical beings while Habib vehemently rejects the notion. Their dispute is settled with the appearance of Mikolo, a colorful, hippogriff-looking creature.…
Last year, Femi Adebayo made a splash with the release of King of Thieves. The ripples of that theatrical success do not look to be fading soon. Since then, we have had Anikulapo, Elesin Oba, Orisa, and now Jagun Jagun (by the same team that made King of Thieves). The surprise trailer for the film created quite a buzz in July, with the biggest conversations around the amount of money that must have gone into the production of the project. Truly, this epic, starring several notable Yoruba actors, has been executed on a scale rarely seen on our screens. ‘Jagun…
Hotel Labamba is not unlike any other murder mystery. Usually, the plot is set rolling with acquainted characters arriving at a designated location, or just random characters happening to be in the same place at the same time. Then, a character dies, usually murdered, and a search for the murderer begins. In a year that Biodun Stephen can be tagged the most prolific director in Nollywood, she adds Hotel Labamba, a lacklustre murder mystery into her 2023 output. ‘Sista’ Review: Kehinde Bankole Delivers Impressive Performance in Compelling Tattle-Like Story About Single Motherhood In a popular hotel, supposedly fully booked with…
Growing up, some of the most popular films of Yoruba Nollywood were historical period films which included epics. Though mostly low budget and with questionable production quality, we enjoyed them for the action, the depiction of mythical heroes, and incantations delivered with impeccable cadence. In 2022, we witnessed a mainstream renaissance of such period films, with notable releases being King of Thieves, Anikulapo and Elesin Oba. The revival of the subgenre of traditional epics continues in 2023 with Odunlade Adekola-directed Orisa, to be closely followed by Femi Adebayo’s Jagun Jagun in August. This renaissance has birthed exciting projects that have…
We have seen many films like Juel Taylor’s feature debut, and they all fall into a common subgenre, blaxploitation, a genre of film born in the 70s. Common features of this genre are black protagonists, the display of racial themes, and the fact that most of the action happens in a black neighbourhood. Superfly, Django Unchained, and Shaft are other examples of films in the genre. Although They Cloned Tyrone is deeply grounded in this genre, it draws inspiration from other genres that add more elements to the plot, and it morphs into an unlikely sci-fi psychological thriller. ‘The Woman…
If you were born before the 2000s, you would be familiar with a brand of Nollywood romance films that were very popular in the early 2000s. They told stories of playboys, loverboys, beautiful women looking for love, love triangles, and messy romance sagas. This genre held sway in Nollywood for a substantial period before being gradually phased out as the Nigerian movie scene evolved to accommodate new types of stories. As a time capsule, Love, Lust and Other Things will throw older Nollywood viewers back in time for a familiar romantic affair with unsatisfactory storytelling; this time dazzling aesthetically. ‘Big…
Romance pervades every form of art—literature, theatre, painting, film, etc. In fact, it pervades all sense of human life, which is why a well-told romantic story strikes a chord with viewers regardless of when, where, or who it happens to. Almost everyone has, at some point in their lives, envisioned themselves in some cheesy romantic story where they and a special person go against all odds to be together. Many of these stories have been intensely represented in films. In such stories, boy meets girl and they build up an unbreakable chemistry that survives every force that might be trying…