From King of Thieves to Jagun Jagun, House of Gaa and Lisabi, Femi Adebayo is no stranger to the Yoruba language films that have enjoyed mainstream popularity in recent times. His onscreen presence is often marked by a commanding blend of charisma, wit and intensity as he embodies characters that are both larger than life and deeply flawed. Whether playing a ruthless powerbroker, a cunning trickster or a noble hero, Femi Adebayo is always hard to miss. In Seven Doors, a six-part period piece written by Adebayo Tijani and Yinka Laoye, Adebayo draws strength from his previous success as an…
Author: Nelson Chigozirim
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Hijack ‘93 opens with “This film is a fictionalised interpretation of actual events”. When a film begins with such a disclaimer, it gets its audience invested in the story unfolding before them, especially if it’s a controversial or historical subject. Unfortunately, Hijack ‘93 fails to hold one’s interest for long and doesn’t even make any effort to do so. Directed by Robert Peters (Thirty Days in Atlanta), this Play Network Studios production revisits an almost forgotten event in Nigeria’s past, a hallmark of Charles Opaleke’s Play Network Studios, known for telling and retelling classics and historical stories since its Living…
Anger is a powerful catalyst for change. A teenage girl’s forced marriage to an older man sparks outrage among a group of market women, resulting in a collective decision to deny their husbands any sexual relations as a form of protest. This spreads quickly and before long, it becomes a nationwide women’s protest. That was the premise of Omoni Oboli’s 2016 Wives on Strike which has spawned two sequels and cemented its status as a social satire. In the latest instalment, Wives on Strike: The Uprising, Oboli tackles fresh themes, channelling the wives’ outrage into an emotional story of loss,…
When the lens of Clarence Peters isn’t capturing stunning music videos, it periodically gives a shot at Nollywood. A visual storyteller, Peters’ creative canvas extends beyond the realm of award-winning music videos. His short film Hex, a gripping horror story made its debut at the 2015 African International Film Festival, where it won the Best Short Film award, solidifying Peters’ reputation as a promising filmmaker. In his latest offering, Inside Life, set in the heart of Lagos, nothing is as it seems. At once dark and evocative, the six-part mini-series is a chilling portrayal of social and economic injustice and…
After his directorial debut with Living in Bondage sequel, which earned him a Best Director award at the AMVCA, Ramsey Nouah’s follow-up effort, the remake of Rattlesnake, was highly anticipated. Despite his promising role as director and an impressive cast, the hollow film ruined the beauty of the original story. It failed to recapture the magic of his acclaimed debut, despite its AMVCA nominations and wins. After successive outings in the 2019-2020 period, Ramsey Nouah dusts off his directing hat this year for Tokunbo, a Netflix original screenplay by Todimu Adegoke and Thecla Uzozie. Set in the bustling city of…
In this crime thriller co-directed by Muyiwa Adesokun and Carmen Ike-Okoro, Timini Egbuson stars as the titular Shina, a young taxi driver with a tight deadline to raise money for his critically ill grandmother’s surgery. The film is set in Lagos amidst the rising political tension preceding the state election. As Shina struggles to gather the funds needed to perform this surgery, he somehow finds himself caught up in the dangerous web of a crime lord, which sets off a chain of events beyond his control. Before the night when we see Shina bring his grandmother to the short-staffed hospital…
Korede Azeez embraces heavy themes in her works. Her 2023 short, Halima’s Choice, a part of the African Folktales Reimagined anthology, takes us through love and loss in a futuristic world. In the first half of 2024, she released her first feature-length film, It Blooms In June, mixing loss with fatherhood in a feel-good plot. In her latest, With Difficulty Comes Ease, produced by Nemsia Studios, the Enugu-raised filmmaker draws inspiration from her multicultural upbringing to tell an emotional story about womanhood, religion and the bonds we make and break in life. With Difficulty Comes Ease follows a young widow…
There’s a certain artistry to Kill Boro that elevates it above the usual Nollywood treatment of abusive spouses. Written by Priye Diri and directed by Courage Obayuwana, Kill Boro tells the story of Boro (Philip Asaya), a middle-aged former gangster ridden with debt and his teenage son, Elijah (Kosi Ogborueche) who is desperate to have Boro killed to save himself and his mother from Boro’s physical abuse. The film’s premise is architecturally built on a very tragic and dramatic situation: a debt-ridden abusive husband owing a notorious gang leader and a conflicted son saving up money to eliminate his father.…
When Jade Osiberu introduced us to the raw talent that is Maleek of the Ikorodu Bois fame in Gangs of Lagos (2023), it was his impressive performance as a conflicted street teen that immediately endeared us to him, one that won him an AMAA award that same year. Now, in Aburo, a tender, heartwarming tale of courage and destiny, Maleek once again plays the role of a troubled street-smart kid. This time, he is with an exceptional athletic gift. Set in modern-day Lagos against the vibrant backdrop of the city’s class divide, Aburo follows the story of its titular character,…
If you were promised a horror story back then, you were sure to be in for a spooky ride. Some of that time’s paranormal and mystery thrillers like Karishika, Igodo, and Egg of Life scared us as children. Likewise, they gave the adult viewers jumpscares from start to finish. The horror genre is not an easy film form. Particularly, because it has to successfully combine multiple filmmaking elements to evoke fear in its audience, even without an all-star cast. The chills, goosebumps, and thrill must be crafted into the overall experience. Sadly, Showmax’s Dead of Night does not achieve this…