Author: olamideadio

There is a running irony throughout Moses Inwang’s Dead Serious. The most obvious is how the title negates everything the film espouses. How a work of art can lack such self-awareness it degenerates into a melodramatic, saccharine piece, especially when the work is about such a sensitive topic. This is, without a doubt, the shallowest, most insensitive anti-suicide film I have ever seen. And there is no one to blame—not Sabinus, not the comic duo Pato and Vero (played by Lawal Nasiru Bolaji and Toyin ‘Tomama’ Albert)—other than the writer-director, Moses Inwang. Official poster for Dead Serious Dead Serious lacks…

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Daniel Bell-Gam’s short film, Are You Really Fine, is a calm, reflective vista of the ocean and a panoply of lovely visuals. It is a work of technical integrity, a beautiful piece with similar subjects to match. Daniel Bell-Gam’s short offers little outside all of this. ‘The Pick Up’ Review: Minimalist Short Film Digs Deep into a Bag of Expressiveness Official poster for Daniel Bell-Gam’s ‘Are You Really Fine’ The short film, if one might call it that, is a monologue by an unknown character asking after another unknown character’s well-being. Layered beneath the mundane monologue are various happy subjects…

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Taiwo Egunjobi’s third feature film, A Green Fever, stretches his oeuvre of small to medium-sized cast films set in sleepy towns or small locations, featuring various noir-inspired characters. In this submission, Egunjobi plays with a haunting, deceptive intimacy among several dishonest characters, leading the viewer to question, at first, what the truth is, and who exactly can be trusted. A Green Fever shows early that none of the characters are reliable, and the question switches midway into the film: what exactly is the truth? Official poster for A Green Fever Alongside Taiwo Egunjobi are his long-term creative partners, Isaac Ayodeji,…

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Following the trail of great classics about body switches like The Hot Chick (2002) and Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Uyoyou Adia’s Life, which she writes and directs, is a moral drama about contentment. The light-hearted, didactic film presses on the importance of perspective when we yearn for another’s life. While the film has its heart in a good place, it comes off as heavy-handed in select spots, and apparently, its core moral—contentment—isn’t convincingly justified. Official poster for LIFE. Ema (Omowumi Dada) and Yinka (Efe Irele) are on either end of the social class. Ema works in a successful advertising…

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One would be forgiven if they concluded that Slum King was a Gangs of Lagos spinoff. It is a good comparison. Gangs of Lagos carries its weight, and if read a certain way, it might even be called a great Lagos film. The comparison doesn’t end in narrative similarities; the feel, the slow-mos, the neverending battle for territories and defending said territories. These are all staples that align both films. (We can, merely for acknowledgment purposes, summon Shanty Town as a possible, far-off influence, but it isn’t as good as Gangs of Lagos.) However, the comparisons end here. Qualitatively, Slum…

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From Get Out to Midsommar, the dilution of narrative tropes is a filmmaking staple. It is a misdirection technique to heighten or spotlight a specific element within the film. Coupled with being a great, slow-burner horror, Get Out is a film about racial disparity. It is most uncanny because the film starts out as a harmless romance. Kaelo Iyizoba’s Boy Meets Girl neatly falls into this category—a film that deliberately chooses narrative deception to highlight the death of innocence. Poster for Boy Meets Girl In a fateful meet-cute, a schoolboy, Musa (Gabriel Dung), and a girl (Aaliyah Atamazu) meet on…

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Dinner is a 2016 movie written and directed by Jay Franklyn Jituboh (The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi). It stars Okey Uzoeshi, Keira Hewatch, Eyinma Nwigwe, Deyemi Okanlawon, and Kehinde Bankole as its principal characters. Making special appearances are Richard Mofe Damijo and Ireti Doyle. It is a small-cast film that plays on the energy around what happens when you put a small number of people in a room and dial up the emotional chaos. Official poster for Dinner Ade (Enyinma Nwigwe) invites his childhood friend, Mike (Okey Uzoeshi), for dinner with his fiancee, Lola (Kehinde Bankole). Mike comes along with his…

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After a run of original series like Diiche, Crime and Justice Lagos, and Flawsome, Showmax has finally released its first Nigerian original feature, School Run. The film stars Ifeanyi Kalu and Amanda Iriekpen as its torchbearers. In School Run, a series of unfortunate events lead to Bolu’s (Greatness Ewurum) disappearance after he is picked up by a different driver his nanny delegated to pick him. His workaholic parents, Timelehin and Adeola Kalejaiye (Ifeanyi Kalu and Amanda Iriekpen), must now come together and accept the burden of parenthood before they can find their son. Official poster for School Run. Via Showmax…

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Funke Akindele’s star-studded Christmas submission, A Tribe Called Judah, is a good film. That is one part of criticism simplified: To arrive at the point as early and quickly as possible. The film hits all the right chords for a warm Nigerian family drama. There is the hardworking parent, there is the financial struggle in the family, and there are good children, and there are black sheep, and then there is the adversity that finally brings them all together. A Tribe Called Judah highlights that fear we all have as Nigerians. That every middle to low-income family is one surgery…

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In the distance atop New Culture Studio, Ibadan, the panorama of an old city spreads, gilded with rust and forgotten history. The resigned compliance of age ricochets, punctuated with occasional loud car horns. There is a permanent nostalgia roaming this city. Turn away from the vista, and you will find the Ibadan Indie Film Awards (IFA) waiting. The festival mirrors the ancient city’s sensibilities yet is a different kind of beauty itself. An assemblage of over a hundred creatives and filmmakers; some dressed with avant-garde leanings, others downright bizarre. Come for the dressings, stay for the films. Goodness Emmanuel, Ebuka…

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