If you’re a young up-and-coming filmmaker in the country right now, you probably want to be Jade Osiberu ‘when you grow up.’ In less than a decade, Osiberu has become a force to reckon within the Nollywood film landscape. She started out writing and directing a web series for NdaniTV, Gidi Up, starring OC Ukeje, Deyemi Okanlanwon, Somkele Iyamah, and Titilope Sonuga. Gidi Up was set in Lagos and followed the life and times of four young adults trying to make their way in the big city. It was produced by Osiberu and Kemi “Lala” Akindoju. The duo would work…
Author: Osamudiamen Joe
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A Sunday Affair follows two friends as they fall for the same complicated man. This situation tests their loyalty to each other in the face of a heartbreaking revelation.
The day before I saw Tainted Canvas, I settled down to watch Babylon (2022), the latest outing from Damien Chazelle, known for La La Land (2017) and Whiplash (2014). I say ‘settled down’ because at just over three hours long, Babylon is the kind of flick you have to plan ahead to watch, fighting tooth and nail to carve out time in your schedule– it’s up there with The Irishman (2019), Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Babylon, with a 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes, was released to mixed reviews; while some critics lauded…
One of the things film can help us do as a people is reckon with the past. Events which seem to have been forgotten can be brought to the fore through the power of narrative, becoming, even for a brief moment, the principal object of social discourse, and by the same token, an entry point into that period in history, as well as an opportunity for deep reflection. Sometimes, the number of films being made about a particular occurrence is able to reach critical mass; when this happens, it means that said occurrence now holds such a prominent position in…
In 2019, the number of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom was 1,586. By 2022, that number had skyrocketed to 51,648– a whopping 3,156.5 percent increase– and that figure shows no signs of slowing down. To say that there is a ‘japa’ wave currently sweeping across the nation, and indeed the continent, is to understate matters– it’s more like a tsunami. Last year, the Nigerian Immigration Service called it a ‘worrisome phenomenon,’ with good reason; the rate of emigration of everyone from skilled workers to students is undoubtedly alarming. ‘The Way Things Happen’ Review: “Cinema as Therapy” Apart from the…
If you ever watched Teen Wolf, the MTV high school fantasy drama series that ran from 2011 to 2017, then you’re probably familiar with the riddle, “When is a door not a door?” The answer is pretty straightforward. A door is not a door when it fails to perform its basic function for being a door, which is to keep out the elements, rodents, strangers, thieves. A door is not a door when it is ajar. The construct is still on the hinges and it looks and feels like a door, but it might as well be completely absent. ‘Far…
I am going to attempt to draw a parallel between the short film, Gasper, and Inland Empire (2006), the last feature film by acclaimed American director, David Lynch. As a critic, I find that sometimes, to better understand a work, I need to think of any other film(s) it reminds me of, and then compare both. It’s a fun exercise to do since cinema is filled with different examples of styles and approaches to trace newly released projects back to. First Look: Winifred Iguwa Unveils First Teaser for ‘9TH FLOOR’, Sci-Fi Thriller Short Film Gasper, created by Cheyi Okoaye and…
Spoilers Ahead You’ve seen this show before. Probably under a different name. Maybe it was called Elite, and set in Spain. Or Riverdale and set in the US. Or Sex Education, and set in the UK. The point is Far From Home drowns in all-too-familiar tropes found in the High School drama subgenre, give or take a few blends and changes. And yet, from the title of this review alone, I bet you can tell that I didn’t enjoy this show as much as most people, or as much as I’d have loved to. That’s only because Far From Home,…
There’s a moment in Ema Edosio Deelen’s Otiti, where the titular protagonist is passing through a market, and as is the unfortunate practice in a lot of Nigerian markets, she is being touched and pulled by a thousand and one vendors eager to earn her patronage. This moment, lasting only 15 seconds and played out in slow motion, serves as an efficient visual metaphor to communicate to the audience the state of Otiti’s mind and life. At any point in time, there are multiple things demanding her attention, whether it is an impatient customer expressing their displeasure at the fact…
One emotion we humans are all too familiar with is pain. The happiness or excitement we experience cannot go on too long without being interrupted by something painful, such as a breakup, losing a job or a close friend or family member, coming down with a pretty serious illness, or even just the general existential dread that comes with being alive. It is quite possible to carry pain for years, decades even, and have it invade every part of our lives, showing up in both unexpected and all too familiar ways. ‘Samaria’ Review: In Cinema, as in Life, Things are…