If you look back through the lens of the African movie industry, you have to admit we came a long way, I mean from Cape Town to Cairo kind of long. There was a time I detested (I write it down with the utmost respect) detested African films. I would change the channel immediately upon seeing an African movie on my parents TV. Please don't judge me, hear me out for a second, okay maybe like ten minutes. My name is Drey, I would like to welcome you to my first blog post. Let me explain why I hate and love African film industry in that order.
I love art, I believe earth is a museum, everything we do is art, before social media and the internet the only way we could demonstrate our art as Africans was through music, books, fashion and films the second most important being films it captures a vast audience with the TV as the best channel of distribution. What makes art so powerful is the fact that it stood the test of time, earth has been around for mother knows how long, but each day we are left in awe by her beauty, just when we thought we figured her out, our hands are constantly holding our face like Kevin in Home Alone, what I am trying to say is that a film can be seen a thousand times across the years through the same eyes, each time we learn something new without getting bored. I am trying my best not to get to the point (deep breath I don't want to be judged or misunderstood, like I care).
Mr. Ibu, I never watched the movie but I have seen so many memes that I can tell what it is about. In High school they used to call me Mr. Ibue whenever I did anything dumb or stupid, it never bothered me, my curiosity let me to ask people what was Mr Ibu about and none could get past the part where it was a young man causing havoc by doing stupid things, what did they learn from the movie no one could tell me, The movie was designed for gags but could the same people years later watch a three plus hour movie? I highly doubt it.
My Hate and love for African movies or series came from my mother (an artist herself) but in the music industry, she used to spend hours watching African movies on DStv during the weekend while cooking or plating my little sister hair, movies with the most brutal titles like “A villager in London” “My wife gave birth to a snake” or “The church or money” and many more weird titles I could not make up. If you try to Google these titles and they do not appear, don't blame me. My biggest problem was not only my mum spending her weekends watching four hours movies back to back, it was the barber shop, as I waited for my turn to get spanked with a firing dragon flame turned liquid which lands on the edge of my head after a haircut, I would kill time by gluing my eyes to the screen watching a tireless scene or boring dialogue, the make-up on the artist was not that great, there was no cinematography, weak script, lack of consistency in the drama, low level scenes, poor sound editing, you have every right to say I am being hard but my mother always told me if you wanted to do something do it right and give it your best for me that's what art is about giving your best, making it your last touch. Praying for the barber to just say next, my eyes wander again to the screen above a ten feet mirror with a biblical verse stamp on it.
Seeing a scene where a gentlemen driving his car while talking to himself, the scene would take more than five minutes of him just driving, upon arriving at his gate we see the gentlemen getting off his car opening the gate, get back in the car, park his vehicle in the driveway goes back and close the gate then proceeds to walk to his huge castle, those scenes used to drive me insane.
You must be wondering what am I reading, I do not grasp the concept, and he said ten minutes of reading. Let us dwell deep should we? The point I am trying to make is most casual African movies or series had no direction. I don't mean as a blockbuster because we have a few of our own, for example, The Gods must be crazy, District 9 or Tsotsi, to name a few. We should not ignore the fact that those four plus hour movies were being made because it had an audience to feed which is why Nollywood is the biggest distributor of movies in Africa making $590 million annually, certainly it has fans. Just like the life cycle in marketing a product needs to find ways to stay relevant to please its client I felt like Nollywood hit a recession and has not elevated yet, to feed the young audience. I mean the guy who likes chilling on weekends reading a book and contributing to everything which is black and beautiful. If I wanted to watch a series or a movie on the weekend it was difficult to find good African movies to watch with friends or by myself.
Feeding the Gap.
The west was growing in popularity with quality content series such as Game of Thrones, 24, Gossip Girls, Glee and Jane the Virgin or Jason Bourne movies. In our beloved continent we were fed with the same old formula of soap opera which have been on our screen since the start of the millennium, actors we saw growing on screen, their characters' names shadow their real names. We needed content, intellectual content, out of the blue the African Gods blessed us with Jacob Cross to me it was on the same level as the previously mentioned series and movies, what a series it was, a masterpiece especially season one. I recommend you should give it a watch, a series about one man's quest to establish a business empire in the cut-throat world of the African oil industry. The very first time South Africa and Nigeria work together in a production, it's worth a watch. There I felt the African film industry gave us what we wanted, a series which spoke about African excellence, business and power, IMDb rated it 9/10.
Shuga, A group of students whose futures are balanced on a knife-edge due to their love of risk and danger. The series was well-received in Africa and around the world. What I love about Shuga the producers and directors did not hold back, there was kissing, and cursing. They represented what young African girls in African college were getting up to. The series premiered on MTV Base, a channel targeting young adults. I might be wrong, it was the first time we saw Lupita Nyongo on screen.
What did all of those series have in common with the next one? The fact it did not last long, there was not much noise (hashtags) around to put fire under the network exec bum, only if social media was alive back then, because if social media had been around when Ayeye was airing, Vuzu would given us a second or maybe a third season, Ayeye was ahead of its time, the best African series of all time in my opinion, someone tell Thapelo Mokoena I said that. The series followed three room-mates who worked in an advertising company in Johannesburg, as we see each character go through their struggle of life from breakups, drug abuse, understanding life and starting a business.
My only problem was there were no major networks at the time to see the potential of the above series, we cannot have everything in life, I guess. There was a transition in African films, writers and directors questioned themselves. They dug deep and came out with series which could stand the test of time without a doubt. The teams behind each show mentioned above were their own competition, each episode better than the previous one. As soon as the respected show ended there was a void which needed to be filled. A young man lost his appetite for African series. I felt lost and my heart needed something but I could not explain that urge.
Netflix saved the day.
Along came Netflix, gone are the corporate film studios, the government network channels with execs that lack visions. I for once was excited to have Netflix in Africa, little did I know about them. It was just FOMO (fear of Missing out), Netflix and chill waves. I knew about orange is the new black and house of cards, never watched either of them but twitter was buzzing about it, all I knew they were a Netflix production, so crossing the Atlantic just for us to watch their American shows did not add up with me, I knew something was coming, and I was excited. Bare with me please, we are almost there, almost.
Netflix was going to do what other African production companies could not, they gave small/independent production companies a chance, a chance to offer premium stories, quality production, while African governments were busy rewriting regulations so Netflix could pay taxes, Netflix went on a shopping spree of acquiring movies rights. They were about to fill the void that I could no longer bear. While the sun was shining on African films along came Shadow, Netflix Africa first ever production, forgive the pun but the spotlight was on Netflix. The series is about a tragic loss, an ex-cop with a rare inability to feel pain strikes out on his own to catch offenders who have eluded Johannesburg police. I am not sure who gave the clapper board to the director of Shadow but that person needs help. The series cast Pallance Dladla as Shadow, Nnekwa Tsajwa as the villain, Amanda Du-Pont as Shadow main chick, for me it was my first time seeing these actors on screen. The series rating on IMDb at the time of writing is 6.6/10. Am not impressed the series was not what I expected, Shadow had a Luke Cage kind of powers, bulletproof skin and all, the dude was harmless but full of emotion I did not get it, my attention span only lasted till episode three, the acting was poor, the actions was good to be fair, the cinematography was on point especially at night the visual was stunning, the dialogue lord has mercy that's all I’ll say.
Just like my branding lecturer used to say, “being first can either be a blessing or a tragedy” Shadow was the case, first to the party and no one gave them attention except critics. I will give the production team a hand, they did their very best, the script did not get the assignment. Shadow demise did not hurt Netflix emotions. Catching Feelings was what Netflix needed. It had Kagiso Lediga front and behind the camera, star -studded cast of Pearl Thusi, Akin Omotoso (my favourite actor and director on the continent) and Loyiso Gola, they helped Kagiso make the film a must-watch. Catching feelings follows a formerly-famous writer and his wife whose life gets disrupted when a famous and very self-indulgent author comes to stay with them. The film is a masterpiece. Rotten Tomatoes has it on 100% rating, I mean it cannot get better.
Let us be frank Netflix Africa had its hits-and-miss with series and movies, but who can blame them, they tried to feed us with content we needed but at least they tried, that's what is important. There're gems on Netflix which they have not advertised as much, story for another day.
The point am I trying to make is, we should not set our standard low when it comes to African films industry, not because it is set in the continent and has an African cast, we should learn to be tough on them and push the creative team to do their very best and I have two examples to end this essay. Queen Sono produced once again by Kagiso Lediga starring his Catching feelings co-star Pearl Thusi. Am not sure if its an espionage or revenge series not going to lie, the script was poor it lacks meat and vision. what made Queen Sono great was the acting the cast did an amazing job, the cinematography is jaw dropping, the director did his best with shots that looks like things of beauty, there's a scene in the park when they show young Sono and her mother wow what a scene, the director strengths was his skills with actions scene and visuals. Queen Sono is about a spy who takes on her most dangerous mission yet while facing changing relationships in her personal life. I did not pass episode three again, I got bored because of the script, you know what? I’ll give it a try again, now that I am blogging about African films.
Saved the best for last, whoever gave the clapper board to the director of How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding needs an award, what a mini series. Well I will say a good three-hour movie with some ad breaks. IMDb gave it a 6.2/10, while remaining fresh on Rotten tomato with a 93% rating, The series focuses on Busi Lurayi whose character Tumi tries to make things right after ruining what should have been her sister's picture-perfect Christmas wedding. Each character on screen had an amazing development one could feel the emotions and the stake at hand, a well cast series, it reminded me of Crazy rich Asians, a movie I felt needed an African version, the writer and director of How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding literally said “say no more fam” the movie represent Africa poor and rich lifestyle without making it feel unpleasant. Just like Crazy rich Asians the wedding scene will leave you crying, No, I almost cried. Thando Thabethe as Beauty had a princess vibe, she pulled her role to the T’. I will write more about the series in due time.
How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding trailer
Look, I am sure you might not be like me, but what we have in common is the love for the African art no matter the medium. Just like my mother said, we should always give our best, that was my problem with certain African movies or series, we should not blame the low budget nor the actors, some have been in the industry for decades. Our standard for movies which are made by our people should be of high standards, we should be the first to tell them that, because we love the project, and we are fans. Netflix gave our African production companies a platform to show their skills, we now have quality content on demand which depict our lifestyle, us fans can relate to them at the same time we put the continent stories on a huge platform for the world to watch, I hope someone across the pound watched How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding and was like “I would like to have a Zulu wedding”
I am a lover of African films. The main reason I make use of Netflix Africa is to watch movies or series is because it offers African productions which I love. For those of you who have read the whole article till the end, I would like to thank you for reading my first ever article. Now let me go and make me some good organic Ethiopian coffee.
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