My top 5 movies of 2015(Nigerian)

This is in no particular order and it is strictly a matter of opinion. So please, don’t send me hate mails if you thought your film was the best and it didn’t make my list. We can differ, no?  It could also mean that I didn’t see your film. 

 

1. Falling.

Yes, sue me. I’m starting with my own movie. After all, awarding bodies give their films awards so why can’t I award mine. Hehehe. I enjoyed writing Falling and was very delighted when Niyi Akinmolayan, the director called after reading it to say, he loved it too.  It’s been one of the few times that I’ve enjoyed watching the first cut of my movie. Usually, I’m like, what is this? Is this the one that would send me back to the village? But fortunately, I’ve been lucky so far and Lagos is still accommodating me even though it threatens to throw me out every day. I thought the acting was great. There really is something about Adesua Etomi.  And Kofi Adjorlolo cracked  us all up.  Unfortunately I don’t think Nigerians loved Falling as much as we did because why didn’t we make 50 million naira in the cinemas eh? Y’all just love us on only on twitter.

2. Taxi Driver.

 

I already wrote a review of this movie so there’s not much more to say but I enjoyed watching it. I met Odunlade at  the last AMAA awards in SA, he was so cool.  This is one of the major highlights of these events; connecting with people. His performance in Taxi driver was completely effortless. I look forward to working with the director and cinematographer of the film.  I really believe Taxi driver would have been one of  our best films if the script had gone through a few more drafts. We didn’t quite get the story and I believe, neither did they.

3. While You Slept.

This one starred Ini Edo and Veneta Akpofure.  It might be the best performance I’ve seen of Ini Edo yet. It got her an AMAA nomination and deservedly so. Veneta also did great but seemed to disappear off the movie scene, right after that. We look forward to her return.

4. Out Of Luck.

Don’t ask me why but I was afraid I wouldn’t like Out Of Luck but I was proved completely wrong. It had great moments and I enjoyed the experience. It’s the first time I have actually really taken a serious look at Wole Ojo.  He held his own well. Linda Ejiofor blew me away with all the pidgin and Femi Branch is now one of my favourite actors.  I also think Niyi Johnson may be the break out comedian this year , he was very enjoyable to watch.  Big ups to the set designer as well, it was a very practical and beautiful set. The fusion between the rich and the poor was very well done. It showed our Lagos, as it really is. You know, island and mainland things.

5. The Visit

Ah, this one. Brilliant. But it had an unnecessary but. It was unnecessarily long. Take an hour out of that movie and we would have been talking about it in years to come, maybe even use it to teach writing students. This is the problem when you believe your own hype, because you think your film is great, you think everyone must feel the same way making you not as  concerned about your audience as you should be. I don’t understand why anyone would want to make a 2 and a half hour long drama when it’s not an Indian film.  Production value was also unnecessarily low, we could have done with better sound, better locations and better cinematography. That said, The Visit was a highly enjoyable movie, had so many moments and the actors were on point. I must particularly give credit to the screen writer and director/producer of the movie. It started with the brilliant script and the director and producer put a brilliant team together who delivered.

 

If I had the guts of  my friend, Chris Ihidero, I’d also do my bottom 5 but I can just imagine how that would go. People would probably threaten that I’d never find work in this industry again and that village trip that I’ve been avoiding may just happen.