Efiko Score: 6.1/10.
A Night in Nollywood gets its acting performances right but it succumbs to the usual Nollywood third-act flaws.
A Night in 2005, directed by Temidayo Makanjuola, follows Ifelayo Fadairo (Laura Pepple) who’s invited to a party by her best friend Ari (Susan Pwajok). It’s a fun night for these kids who have just graduated high school, until it becomes horrific for Ifelayo. She gets raped by Opeyemi (Shamz Garuba). It’s a complicated crime because Opeyemi is also her best friend’s boyfriend.
In its most basic essence, this is kind of a revenge movie: a character suffers sexual violence and sets out for retribution. Then again, this is a movie about closure: a character can’t deal with trauma until it is addressed. It is also a story of justice and power: accountability via the conventional means is hard to obtain; drastic measures are required.
It’s these layers that give Makanjuola’s film complexity. But the film’s standout quality lies in the performances and character interactions, which perhaps is a reflection of Makanjuola’s strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker. Character interaction is authentic, conversational, and seamless, but the film’s dialogue is repetitive, clichéd, and draggy. The performances in a scene where the older Opeyemi (Efa Iwara) doesn’t look back as he walks out of a room, or one where the older Ifelayo (Dima-Okojie) sits on the beach after her phone dies, or where Mrs Fadairo (Bimbo Akintola) interrupts her daughter epitomises this film’s good acting.
Unfortunately, the film does feel rushed and predictable, but in this way, it is a commentary on how justice after sexual crimes follows a tired trope in the Nigerian society in which A Night in 2005 is set.
Shortcomings
The film’s major drawback, however, is how its failure in developing sub-plots or character relationships. The development of character’s relationships, especially the positive ones, goes from rocky to endearing in the space of a montage, a la Hallmark movie.
And so, when the time comes for catharsis towards the third act, these relationships are not enough to draw out the required emotional response from the audience. What one remembers from this movie is hardly what happens or is happening; instead, it is all about who is doing what happens. You’ll remember Ini Dima-Okojie and Teniola Aladese (as Ari) but not really Ife and Ari as people having a rocky relationship. When things go wrong between the pair, the audience doesn’t see how fences are mended or otherwise.
In essence, A Night in 2005 presents as multi-layered feature, but this calls into question the movie’s conclusion.
As a film centred on revenge, it does well enough on that part. As a movie on centred on closure, it leaves the audience guessing. As a movie that analyses abuse, power, justice, and the structures around it, it asks the audience to make a decision but its conclusion is too abrupt. In this bit, in particular, the conclusion arrives as less open-ended than uncertain.
So, despite its being a compelling, A Night In 2005 remains a Nollywood film with near-stereotypical Nollywood flaws.
