Say Who Die is a film that is constantly moving. The film starts mid-movement: Omon Ighalo (Meyi Abu) is preparing for her trip to the United Kingdom on a scholarship, and her twin sister, Odion, is on the run from a man she owes 1 million naira, that adds more interest as the film progresses. The film uses this launching pad to propel story and characters to different darkly hilarious absurdities that at no point feel contrived.
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Directed by Paul Utomi (Country Hard), Say Who Die follows Odion Ighalo (Oiza Abu), who stumbles into the twisted world of drug trafficking after her sister’s trip to the United Kingdom takes a different turn. It’s a straightforward story on first look, but writer Lani Aisida (who has written across various formats) crafts an obstinate Odion who finds herself in a series of unfortunate situations, many of her own making, others by virtue of resemblance.
Her attitude is familiar and even personal, but she’s not a moral lesson at any point in time. We’re introduced to Odion and never told what to learn—just to root for her despite her actions, misunderstood or justified. Scheming her way into impossible situations, she somehow still schemes her way out of them. The film treads the delicate balance of making her slightly frustrating to root for but never unlikable. The blame falls fully on her when the man she owes finds his way into their home and chaos ensues, but she brushes it off with the practised ease of someone used to being the culprit in every situation. This conditions her to treat every major event like a minor inconvenience. Kidnapped and made to pull drugs from the nether recesses of a corpse, she isn’t fazed—still looking for ways to benefit from the situation.
Played with a curated flippancy by Oiza Abu, she balances the humour and sombreness required for the story without falling into caricature. There is a slight tonal abrasion in the performances with Evaezi Ogoro’s maternal mourning melancholy throughout the film grating against Oiza’s lackadaisical tone, but it never takes away too much from the overall tone. If anything, it brings some texture to the genre straddling the film is trying to do. The rest of the cast ranges from middling to adequate and fortunately they get away with it.
The film’s constant motion is helped by its kinetic editing. It’s aware of its story and is never docile, save for the funeral scenes, but once Odion picks up her sister’s passport and looks at it, we get moving again. There is a match cut with a cup of water that occurs about halfway through the film that exemplifies the way the editing ties the story together. We don’t stay with anything too long, moving with Odion from one absurdity to another. Sometimes it stumbles, the audio editing often falls into the hyper-realistic tone you expect from superficial TikTok video editors but it gets back up to deliver a visual energy that matches the story.
Sitting at a tight ninety minutes, Say Who Die is trimmed of the excess you find in many Nollywood films and zooms in on a character and her immediate vicinity, creating high-stakes drama without involving any grand political scheme or million-dollar crime ring. The direction keeps this focus by framing faces and following movements tightly; you’re pushed into Odion’s world with little space to breathe.
At the core of Odion’s adventures is a misunderstood love for a family that often maligns her. The “bad child” label is the only identity she’s been allowed to inhabit so even in grief she’s leaning into the role even more because she knows whatever mischief she’s up to, it’s a misreading of her true intentions. All the situations she ends up in seem like externalisations of her psychological state—grief, guilt and responsibility for fixing things.
Say Who Die premiered on Prime Video on August 29.
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Side Musings
- Omon’s boyfriend was so dumb to me, anytime he showed up I understood why she broke up with him.
- Their father had time to pound yam for his wife and still cheat, he needs to show these new-age cheaters how to multitask.
- The side chick showing up at the end was so bold. I too would have fought her.
