Nollywood Film Club is a diverse haven for criticism, ideas, and global discourse of Nigerian films.
Hosted by Iroko Critic on Twitter (now known as X), the weekly Twitter Space conversation unfolds every Sunday at 6 pm West African time, offering a unique platform that transcends backgrounds and film knowledge.
In December, the following conversations took place: a recap of 2023; Blood Vessel, a Netflix film; and Breath of Life, a Prime Video film that closed the eventful year.
As part of the monthly publication of key takeaways from their discussions, the contradictory nature of Breath of Life and its aesthetics will be documented in this post.
According to several speakers, Breath of Life attempts to be realistic and out of this world at the same time. This resulted in many people’s (self-admitted) positives also being what they had the biggest problems with. Nonetheless, it was a good Nollywood outing to close the year of grand-scale ambition across the industry.
Here are key notes from the Nollywood Film Club speakers:
- For every viewer getting into the first few scenes of Breath of Life, it is easy to see the efforts that have gone to make it a stylized film. This can be deduced from the aesthetics such as the chosen colours, the grading, production design, and costumes. These elements also come together to give us a visually appealing film.
Here comes the But…
Despite the interesting choices, these chosen colours somehow end up too artificial. Also, Breath of Life (dark, comedic and cartoonish) ends up suffering from tonal confusion with abrupt changes and switches either not fitting a certain performance or moment in the film.
- The actors in Breath of Life bring their A-game to the film. Genoveva Umeh’s acting is praised, Eku Edewor despite not having much screentime still shines briefly with her expressiveness, Demola Adedoyin who plays young Reverend Timi has more to work with here than recent outings and the October 1 star delivers what many call a strong performance and Chimzie Imo also delivers a performance that makes some of the speakers petition adult roles for the young man who enjoys gorgeous chemistry with his co-star Umeh.
Here comes the But…
A usual strong performer, the beloved Wale Ojo, despite not being bad in this, just felt out of place in Breath of Life. It felt like his performance didn’t belong in the film. And some speakers would have loved to see Adedoyin carry the challenge of playing an adult Reverend Timi.
- The choices of songs make good music to listen to when pulled apart from the film. Also, Dinachi’s rise in Nollywood films is nice to see, as Vanessa commented. (A Dinachi track can also be heard in The Black Book).
Here comes the But…
Some speakers find the use of music questionable in some moments and even manipulative in some instances where the music is left to do the heavy lifting for a scene that isn’t working.
- Breath of Life looks well thought out. One could feel the intention of a filmmaker setting out to make a good film. Even Ucheena says that there are many Nollywood films that one can watch without paying attention to the screen because of how dialogue-filled they are, but that is different in Breath of Life. He had to concentrate because a lot of the storytelling is achieved visually.
Here comes the But…
At the same time, the film’s narration that extends beyond the prologue does a lot of telling. Some speakers also point to editing issues that affect the film’s potential to come together coherently. For Mr. C, it feels like a “For Your Information” montage of moments of these people’s lives that feel separate. This leads to a further problem like an unearned father-son relationship between our two leads whereby the evolution of their relationship is narrated and not enough is shown on screen to make it believable.
- As the film begins, Breath of Life sets the story of Reverend Timi up by drawing a lot of connections to Nigeria’s history and his role in key moments. Some speakers found this interesting and wondered where it would lead, including some early scenes that could have been narrated (Timi’s prayers for the queen, for example).
Here comes the But…
This historical backdrop doesn’t lead anywhere and even ends up wrong in some places, a topic that is also tackled during the discussion. And a speaker, Iku Baba, argues that Nigeria’s history hasn’t been documented well enough for its citizens for our filmmakers to take such freedom that isn’t well employed. In other words, for a country with a poor history curriculum, a film’s inaccuracy (although permitted) doesn’t do the people much good. We can’t afford the same liberty as the West who have more established canon across various subjects.
- Generally, many speakers agree that the faith and non-faith attributes of some key characters are not explored well enough. As for what makes them interesting and conflicting characters in a faith-based film (many remain unsure), this dynamic isn’t brought to the forefront for some exciting drama.
- My key lesson: Nollywood needs to become more intentional about its marketing in 2024. One specific kind of marketing meant here is the genres, synopsis and details revealed to the public ahead of a film release. This was a notable issue across several 2023 films. And it is not just a case of them concealing the film’s details for an effect of surprise. You just find out that what you are watching and what you were sold are miles apart, Maybe I make this a thing by adding a key lesson that I pick every month because I always find the discussions quite illuminating. Anyway, Up Ibadan!
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