The almost absent representation of mental health in our films reflects our collective social and cultural ideologies concerning the topic. People struggling with psychological challenges are often labelled as confused, mad, or even possessed. At best, they are prescribed prayers as a cure, rather than the support and care they genuinely need.
Uchenna Ugwu‘s I Too, Crave Death doesn’t just offer a nuanced portrayal of the realities of psychological struggles, it also offers a form of resolution. Chieloka (Amanda Ugoh) has just lost her friend, Kaodili, to suicide, and her mother (Tessy Brown) struggles to understand or acknowledge the depth of her daughter’s pain. Trapped in a broken-down car, they are forced to have difficult conversations on grief, emotional neglect and suicide. With its themes, I Too, Crave Death enters an underexplored space in Nigerian cinema from a parent-child angle, joining earlier mental health works like Damilola Orimogunje’s For Maria Ebun Pataki (2020) and Sarah Kwaji’s Out in The Darkness (2025), which examine the topic using postpartum depression—an isolating and often misunderstood experience for new mothers.
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In Ugwu’s entry, she offers a critique of the religious approach to mental health struggles. Chieloka recounts how Kaodili’s mother had restricted him from seeing a therapist and instead paraded him around prayer houses for deliverance. Her mother, however, argues that it was done for his good. In a car-bound two-shot from outside the car, the camera frames a rosary hung on the rearview mirror, in between mother and daughter. There’s a divide that certain religious ideologies create between their followers and non-religious approaches to various aspects of life. The supernaturally absolute Christian will most likely disregard practical steps to soluble problems. This misunderstanding of the supernatural-material relationship leads to denial and rejection of confrontation that eventually hurts the healing process of people with mental health difficulties.
The short film further validates the struggles of people with mental health difficulties; it exposes the mother’s initial position earlier in the film — simplification of mental health — as a result of fear and ignorance in the final minutes. It takes a moment of distress for her mother to grasp the depth of her struggles. In a tearful reconciliation, her mother opens up, “You know my generation… We were not raised to talk about things like this.” It resolves the demonization of therapy when she proposes that they go to see a psychologist together.
The strength of the film rests entirely on its writing and performances. The screenplay was crafted by Uchenna (herself a seasoned TV writer) and is built on long, extended conversations, reminiscent of Nigerian family reconciliation meetings. The dialogue is realist, direct, and emotionally layered, circling around grief, misunderstanding, and the dynamics between a Nigerian mother and daughter, grounded in lived experiences rather than contrived manoeuvres common in dialogue-heavy films.
The performances, led by Tessy Brown (The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi) and Amanda Ugoh (The Fire and The Moth), elevate the film’s already strong writing. Both actors reveal emotional truth through spoken lines and the quiet restraint between them. Their mother-daughter dynamic feels lived-in—the correction, the threat, the apologies, the embrace—like watching a mother and daughter through a Rear Window.
In all its theatrical goodness, I Too, Crave Death flounders technically. Terry Emmanuel’s camera is an itchy wanderer, it recklessly captures the characters from every angle. There’s a constant use of a side-to-side dolly-like shot to heighten tension, but the result is disorienting, and draws attention from the film’s emotions. The film’s editing also supports this restlessness by constantly throwing shots at its audience like they signed up to watch an exhibition of shot angles. Worth noting is: this is Ugwu’s first short film. Technique takes time, and mastery is a journey.
What happens when filmmakers center an important message, but the technique takes the backseat? I Too Crave Death is urgent in its social purpose, giving voice to mental health struggles and offering a positive call to action. When technique works against narrative, even the most vital subject risks simplification and dilution of emotional potency. Form and message should move together, reinforcing each other. Uchenna Ugwu’s I Too, Crave Death is a film with heart and soul and no body, burdened by its visual impatience.
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