AFRIFF: Music exists at the core of Uche Aguh’s Dynamite, a short film in which a music star`s facade of perfection dissolves as she finds new love in the most familiar of places: her band. Inspired by the five-track EP, “Sanguine”, by Kirukaah, the music moniker of Ifeoma Chukwuogo who also plays the lead, Dynamite constantly frames the film with the tracks from the EP. Unlike Water and Garri, the other music-inspired film from 2024, Dynamite recognizes the limits of its music and story and works mostly within it to better results.
Starting with a performance of “Ricochet Baby”, the film`s aesthetics are quickly established with vibrant colors and costuming that straddles between vintage and modern, another reflection of the music. In this scene, we meet Kiki and her bass player, Kofi (Andrew Yaw Bunting). The story—a tale of a controlling husband-manager and the freedom a new, secret love brings—is immediately established.
The film`s length does not allow for a lot of backstory and this sometimes prevents an investment in the husband’s controlling characterization. In their first major altercation, you wonder what led them to each other, her supposed drug addiction is not given grounds beyond another point of contention, and you long for some insight into how their relationship evolved to this point of exploitation.
These issues do not impact Ifeoma’s acting as Kiki as she stands mountains above the rest of the cast. Her act as a sultry diva hiding an unknown suffering is never awkward in the way these kinds of roles tend to be. The brightness of her presence is best seen in two scenes. In the first, she goes to Kofi’s house and releases her album from his computer with no prior announcement; the chemistry waxes and wanes but is mostly carried by her in the subtle complications she weighs in this new romance. The second one is when her husband confronts her before they meet the ambassador. The mirror shot is awkwardly framed but it works to capture everyone in the room, and Ifeoma acts in circles around the rest of the cast in this climatic explosion of the film: her voice creaks, her eyes water, and her body tenses up as she chooses her husband again.
With scenes edited to dance to the music and lighting that favours the dark skin of the actors, the technical details of Dynamite are often sharp even though the dark scenes are sometimes hard to follow. There also seems to be a reference to Touki Bouki (1973), directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, when Kofi drives her on his bike on their way to the first moment of their escapist romance which made me wonder about how often that film is referenced, and how isolating image or symbol impacts the intent of the original—that’s a whole other conversation though.
Dynamite closes with a conflicted Kiki in a bright red dress as she performs “Harmattan” on the set of a music video. You can see the conflict of choice on her face, the almost regret and the curiosity of what could have been. A star that shines in the public eye but is dying in private, she leaves and wanders down the road to nowhere—or maybe to the love that is truly dynamite.
Dynamite premiered at the 2024 Africa International Film Festival.
Share your thoughts in the comments section or on our social media accounts.
Keep track of upcoming films and TV shows on your Google calendar.
