Nigerian Prince

I really enjoyed this movie. I didn't find it to be too slow as one reviewer said (and I can be very impatient when it comes to books and movies). If I can find the time, I hope to make a study guide and use this film with my middle grades students who don't seem to realize the creature comforts they enjoy living in the US. It will also be good to teach them that as youngsters, they don't know everything and need to listen to their parents and other adults who have their best interests at heart.

Full disclosure: We streamed this film in our house during Covid, so the viewing experience was different more like watching with occasional commentary than if it was in a movie theater.

The good: I generally liked the film. I found it entertaining and interesting enough to keep my attention. While watching, you could tell that it was made on a budget, but they did a good job with the film. The plot kept us interest by leaving us guessing what the characters are doing and why they were doing it. The movie was not super fast paced but there were tense moments (including violence) and things were sufficiently broken up that it did not have long dragging segments.

The bad: If I had one complaint, it would be the setup. The history of why the protagonist is sent to Nigeria is left very vague and affected the evaluation of the movie. An ancillary question to the plot is why anybody would think sending the protagonist to Nigeria was good idea? This question is so pervasive that it made it tough to suspend disbelief and tough to relate to the protagonist. Our group's speculative assessments of this issue ranged from 1. he is a young adult who, like most kids, is stuck with his parents' decisions because he is too young to legally make his own decisions, to 2. he is an evil (or amoral) thug who is on the run from his dark past. This speculation had a large impact on whether each viewer was able to identify with, and be interested in, the protagonist and what happened to him, ultimately determining how much each liked the movie. I was closer to the first group, so liked the movie more than others that watched with me.

Due to the unfortunate exploitation of 'Nigerian' theme i would sell to Faraday, let's say, 10 beams for the price of 10 stars; yet because of highly realistic absence of any 'objective' justice or pseudo depth of ressentiment in described and depicted occasions\connections (considering even a death\murder, which felt like another cheap exploitation or, in a way, tribute to idiosyncracy of American/capitalistic\canceled culture) - this piece of art is certainly worthy of some kind of 'Independent Awards'. It has its' flaws, you can't count them with 24 stickiest fingers, but all those remain unobtrusive to the Bigger Picture or concept, even to Everyday Life.

Living in Ukraine, I must add that Ukrainian directors should learn from Nigerians and African culture in general, that's for sure.

I was invested in the story all the way through and I think it also had a cool ending. Worth watching Definitely

-The type of genre filmmaking American cinema used to excel at. Now it is left to a 30 year old (at time of filming) Nigerian-American to take over from where so many other American director have failed

-Where this excels it first and foremost the script. Probably one of the best written movies I've seen in a very long time. Like "Back to the Future", almost every single character, line of dialogue, or scene is meant to be either set up and payed off or be in service of moving the plot along. There is not a single wasted line, wasted character, and wasted development. Every single thing matters in this film and goddamn if that isn't refreshing to see. When even the main character's name "Eze" goes with his easy manipulated character, you know you have a perfect and well thought out script on your hands

-The direction is also excellent in this, great directing of actors, but the blocking is also fantastic. I harp on digital cinema a good amount, but when a director actually knows how use it, then I am for it. So much of this movie is creatively shot or framed, lots of wonderful characters-looking-into-camera shots during intense emotional sequences. Great use of framing for comedic moments (comedy lives in wide angle), and just really gorgeous looking movie, everything feels so perfectly handled behind the camera. I would argue Okoro's direction is on the level of Michael Mann's in "Blackhat" which is very high praise

-And along with direction & editing, this movie is perfectly paced, not an ounce of fat on this entire thing. Even a simple dialogue scene that seems unnecessary is used purposefully to detail a character's philosophy and motivations. The movie never stops moving, and yet still always manages to have time to set characters up, and have a beginning, middle, and end to every single sequence. If I were to think of it like the sports fan I am, I would say it is in equivalence to a baseball pitcher throwing a no hitter or a hockey goaltender getting a 50 save shutout. Just a director and editor both working to create a movie that despite being 101 minutes, only feels about 70 minutes long. Probably the most perfectly paced movie I've seen in a very long time, probably since maybe "Surrender Dorothy"

-Also manages to do a fantastic job creating and building a fully realized world. Nigeria is essentially a character in this, a land of well-meaning people having to deal with and service themselves in the land of scammers. And in the land of scammers, everyone is a target. But similar to "Blackhat", the country of Nigeria is so well-realized, you get a great sense of geography and what the country is about. And like with "Blackhat" every single scene at night is perfectly shot and lit, utilizing digital filmmaking to a strength

-A writer-director understanding his film perfectly at every single level, from editing, lighting, cinematography, blocking, performances, and screenplay structure. Kind of a perfect movie in all honesty. And just like another near perfect Netflix movie from the same year, "Calibre". This director has yet to make anything since, and that is such a shame.

-Anyone who misses great genre filmmaking but for some reason won't read subtitles. Not only do you not have to read subtitles, but if you own Netflix there is one of the best genre films from the last decade just sitting there. This desperately needs to be seen more.