Kunle Afolayan is among the leading directors contemporary Nollywood has produced. From the gaunt young man, Aresejabata, in Saworoide, to the auteur profile he has tried to build for himself over the years, Kunle Afolayan has a long list of films. Kunle has, in the past, tried to align film with the country. Swallow is his most recent attempt. Saworoide, directed by Tunde Kelani, is a critique of Nigeria. Kunle Afolayan’s 2014 film, October 1, follows the same national preoccupation, also released on the first of October. Kunle’s is an eventful career. 

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While he started as a beacon to young, new filmmakers, Kunle Afolayan’s films have paled in narrative quality. His last narratively cohesive film, personally, is October 1. And even that is arguable. A slew of ill-developed stories, led by amateur, inexperienced actors (Temi Otedola, Niniola), have dragged down Kunle Afolayan’s oeuvre to staunch mediocrity. In light of such developments, one has to revisit a list like this.

Anikulapo (2022), Anikulapo: Rise of the Spectre (2024)

Anikulapo does its best to be a grounded modern-made traditional film.  Unfortunately, they can’t gbera dide any higher than 10.

10. Roti (2017)

Another favourite trope of Kunle Afolayan’s is the supernatural versus the real. He pitches an improbable premise and argues it out against logic, usually embodying each argument with a character. The Figurine and Ìràpadà both follow this route. Roti does too. A woman (Kate Henshaw) who has suffered numerous miscarriages and the death of a child begins to ‘see things’. She is now convinced her son has returned from the dead. As expected, few believe her.

9. Ijogbon (2023)

Four teenagers from a rural village in South West Nigeria stumble upon a pouch of uncut diamonds, but before long, others come looking for the bounty. 

Ijogbon serves a visual vista of mountain tops and green lush horizons. It can be beautiful in sections. This does not mean it doesn’t have its problems. Since a clump of characters usually share the screen simultaneously, it soon becomes difficult to tell them apart. Watch attentively.

8. A Naija Christmas (2021)

Look, there is potential to hit classic gold in the light-hearted rom-com and holiday films of the Nollywood section, but most likely, it will not be Kunle Afolayan, especially not with this film. Three men vying to fulfill their mother’s wish try to each bring a woman home for Christmas. There is conflict, sibling vendetta, and Pasuma performing somewhere in there. 

However, there is promise. The premise itself does make for an intriguing local material with a Christmas theme. Rachel Oniga seems archetypal for that role. If a number of stars had properly aligned, Santa might have come to Naija.

7. Swallow (2021)

Interestingly, Niniola’s performance and Kunle’s cameo aren’t the most annoying things about Swallow. The source material itself isn’t incredibly stellar, but the adaptation does little to redeem it. The film, it feels, takes itself too seriously. The pacing is at a snail’s pace, and there is an overall sense of chronic boredom because of its lead.

It takes patience to sit through Swallow. But, we should praise Swallow because there is a strong story about the Nigerian malaise of a period somewhere in there.

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6. The CEO (2016)

The CEO is one of Kunle’s attempts to condense his thriller genre into a concentrated plot with limited characters in a limited space. Think Escape Room but with more room and with bureaucratic underdogs. Five employees must vie for the position of CEO. As the plot unfolds, darker intents are revealed and what should be a simple affair becomes deadly.

5. Irapada (Redemption) (2006)

Kunle Afolayan’s long-running old vs new, culture vs modernism and multicultural inclination started with Ìràpadà, his debut film as director. Dewunmi, who lives in Northern Nigeria, is visited by his mother with the worrying news that he must carry out a redemption sacrifice on behalf of the family. Her claim is based on the premonition she has made from nightmares. Dewunmi, an educated man, disregards her claims. It is easy to infer what follows from here. Irapada began what Kunle Afolayan would perfect in The Figurine.

4. Phone Swap (2012)

Starring the brilliant Nse Ikpe Etim and Wale Ojo as lead, Phone Swap follows two protagonists from very different walks of life and with contrasting personalities. Both of them switch their phones in an incredible accident at the airport and must now live the lives of each other until the phones are rightfully returned. This is one of Kunle Afolayan’s forays in mild comedy. A warm and sensitive film on love and all the incredulous places it can be found. 

3. Citation (2020)

Moremi, a brilliant student, has dragged the most brilliant lecturer before the University under the accusation of attempted rape. In a broken education and judicial system, the odds of getting a favourable judgment are insurmountable. But Morèmi is dogged, and even though she loses everyone around her to the fight against this affable, charismatic lecturer, she brings the truth to light.

Citation is an uplifting film but Nigerian university students will see it and might wince at its incredulity. The possibility of a student getting a review, even with concrete evidence, against the finest lecturer in a department of a Nigerian university, is nonexistent. Citation is available on Netflix.

2. October 1 (2014)

When the bright director who released Ìràpadà and The Figurine brought October 1 to the Nigerian screens, a career that had somewhat felt as though it had been quietened by his foray into rom-com suddenly brightened back. If any question had been asked about Kunle Afolayan’s authority as a lead Nigerian director, October 1 answered them authoritatively. It is an ambitious film on numerous fronts: narrative scope, questions asked, film qualities, and techniques. 

A serial killer on the loose some weeks to Nigeria’s Independence suddenly casts questions about whether the emerging country can rule itself adequately. The onus is on Danladi, an old-timer detective, to capture the killer and stop the killings before independence day. What he finds will question the very notion of independence.

1. The Figurine (Araromire) (2009)

While Irapada reintroduced Kunle Afolayan to the industry as a filmmaker, The Figurine cemented him as a household name. And, deservedly, it makes the top of this list. Starring Ramsey Nouah and Kunle Afolayan himself, The Figurine is about two friends who come across a sculpture with diabolical impressions. It grants them seven years of goodwill and seven years of bad luck. The mastery of this film is how slowly it unravels itself. It is safe to say it’s Kunle Afolayan’s most accomplished film.

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