CITATION REVIEW
I have a love-hate relationship with Nollywood; It was my cinematic first love. The first thing to spark my interest in film… if you exclude all the Disney shows I watched along with it; it was truly my first. While I have always loved Nollywood, I want more for it. I am not a big believer in astrology, but possibly my inner Virgo makes me a natural critic. My friends would always joke that I have nothing good to say about Nollywood movies. Honestly there is probably some truth to that comment, however, I don’t think it’s spot on. I love Nollywood so much that I raise my expectations for it because I genuinely believe it can be better. Maybe I am a tad bit too critical, but I feel as Nigerians, we have subconsciously associated Nollywood with mediocrity and accepted it. Nonetheless, I must admit that the cinematography in recent Nollywood movies has improved immensely. However, the movies seem to have lost its authenticity. I watch Nollywood movies lately and honestly feel like I can’t relate or think “this does not happen in Nigeria”. If our movies falsely reflect Nigeria, how else do we tell true African stories?
As many of you probably know, Citation is all the buzz now in Nollywood. I mean Temi Otedola’s official debut in a movie directed by Kunle Afolayan? A combination like this is bound to break some boundaries in Nollywood and honestly this was one movie I was very excited to watch. Saturday eventually comes around, I set up my Netflix, order my take-out and cosy up in bed in anticipation for this movie. Exactly, 151 minutes later, I’m left feeling thoroughly dissatisfied.
I was very hesitant to critique this movie because it explores a very sensitive topic, ‘sex for grades.’ This is a topic that is very prominent in Nigerian universities, hence, I was really curious to see how the cast and crew would execute it. The movie to me was underwhelming for a number of reasons, and I will start with the elephant in the room.
PROFESSOR N’DYARE’S WIG
Yes, this wig is the elephant I speak of, what can I say, it certainly achieved comedic effect for me. I probably spent a whole day on twitter reading what people had to say about it, and trust Nigerians, they had A LOT to say. Though this was the least of my concerns in critiquing this movie, I couldn’t write this blog without giving it an honourable mention. It simply won’t be right.
Unto more serious issues…
TEMI OTEDOLA AS AN ACTOR
Undeniably, using public figures in movies is a very smart marketing move. However, it is not necessarily the best move. As a producer, you need to question if the message of your movie is more important than the traction it gains. I say this because acting is a niche, an art, and not everyone is skilled in that field. Hence getting someone that won’t execute your vision perfectly could compromise the message one wishes to convey. Undoubtedly, knowledge that Temi Otedola will debut in this movie made me that much more interested in seeing it. This is someone I follow religiously on Instagram and as an influencer she does a really good job, giving us back-to-back quality content. However, as an actor, I felt she was near mediocre. I understand that this is her first real attempt at acting. At first, I did justify all my criticisms with this point because as an influencer, I like her. Nonetheless, I don’t want to be lenient because she made a transition from influencing to acting. I believe the moment one steps into the acting world; they should be critiqued as actors to avoid mediocrity.
As a regular movie critique, there is one thing I look out for when watching any movie: emotion. Any performative display should evoke emotion, and with movies, one needs a good actor to achieve that. While I watched Citation, I felt nothing from the character Moremi. It was very disappointing because she is the protagonist, it is her story, but I derived all my emotion from every character but her. In my opinion, Temi Otedola’s acting was bland, acting is an interaction with your words and your body. There were many scenes where Moremi could have given more emotion and did not deliver. An example is the scene where she is having a one-on-one meeting with Professor N’dyare and he makes sexual advances towards her. From the dialogue, it was clear that his behaviour was inappropriate. However, if I had muted the scene and watched the acting, I would not have felt Moremi’s disgust or anger, she was simply bland.
As an actor, it is your job to convince me. However, I felt her acting was rehearsed and I could tell that it was her first time acting. I believe acting is a natural interaction with the camera. Initially, I felt it was just her Yoruba and French that sounded rehearsed, which is fair enough as neither is Temi’s first language. Eventually, I soon realised it was a lack of chemistry between the actor and the camera, or perhaps a lack of chemistry between the actor and her own character. As an actor, you need to do your ‘homework’, this is something I feel Nigerian actors fail to do. To deliver in any movie, you need to understand your character. If you do not relate to your character, go and have conversations with people who do and try walking in their shoes. Once you do that then you can convince the audience that you are that character; I think Temi failed to do that. I was not convinced that she was Moremi Oluwa, a 21-year-old victim of sexual assault.
What I would say though, is that she has potential. Being in front of a camera alone is extremely difficult to do, but with everything practice makes perfect.
CASTING
With any movie, the actors are the ingredient that give the movie its life. I like an actor that embodies its character, making it so believable that I can hardly separate the actor from its character. A lot of the time, that is something I fail to find in Nollywood. I used to under-estimate the job of an actor when I was younger, I felt it was easy work. 10-year-old me thought that was my chosen profession, my dream job, I won’t have to work too hard and I could possibly become rich and famous. Imagine my surprise when I was cast as Penny from Hairspray in Primary school, ‘e shock me.’
Getting the right person for the right role is crucial in the production of any movie, but honestly, I was quite impressed by Citation’s cast. In my opinion, majority of its casting was good. Professor Lucien N’Dyare played by Jimmy Jean Louis was probably cast the best, he did a good job with the acting. One minor but important detail is, he sounded like he spoke French from an African francophone country, hence, it wasn’t hard to believe he was from Senegal. I felt in all aspects of who professor N’dyare was, Louis executed authentically.
Koyejo played by Gabriel Afolayan was also casted really well in my opinion. I must admit, personally, I did not like the character Koyejo, he seemed a bit possessive and overly protective. Nontheless, that was the way Koyejo was written. I think he was cast appropriately and authentically displayed the character, speaking fluent Yoruba and English thus executing the role.
Mr Kwesi played by Adjetey Anang was also a good cast choice as well, he fit the character description. As an actor, he did a pretty good job.
I probably made it clear that I didn’t particularly think Temi Otedola was the best cast choice for Moremi, it was not a bad choice, however, it simply was not the best choice and my reasons are detailed above.
One of the reasons I really feel the other cast members were cast properly was because I felt they were authentic. I have watched countless Nollywood movies, and one thing I cannot stand is the cultivated accents and unrealistic mannerisms. Arguably, some things may not be the fault of the actor but of the script writer, but everything about the movie should portray Nigeria down to the speech. To a large extent, maybe it is a fair depiction of what Nigerians think of people with foreign accents. It was always speculated that radio hosts could not bag a job unless they sounded foreign, possibly this is now translated in our movies. Nonetheless, that is a deeper issue for a discussion on another day. Personally, I didn’t feel Ini Edo was a good choice, not much information is given about the character Gloria such as her age or background. However, from dialogue between Moremi and Mr Kwesi, I would imagine she is close in age with Mr Kwesi as he has a romantic interest in her. The authentic acting, however, was not done properly in my opinion and I use this word ‘authentic’ intentionally. There is no reason a Nigerian university student should sound anything but Nigerian, I felt there was too much of an attempt to put on an accent which is something Nigerian actors tend to do a lot and have been doing for decades. As I mentioned earlier, this could be an intentional choice by the script writer. However, I am quite tired of seeing things like this in Nollywood. I just think we need to be true to ourselves, the moment we start doing things as little as changing our speech, we inevitably tamper with the stories we have to tell.
NIGERIAN UTOPIA?
A significant number of times in Nollywood movies, there tends to be this portrayal of Nigeria that just isn’t real. It is almost like some fantasized illustration of what the producer wants Nigeria to be. If that is the case, then fair enough, a creator should be allowed to explore their imagination as deeply as they wish. However, I feel if you’re talking about real topics, basing them on true stories, then it should be told in its truest form.
I’ll start with some minor observations, the movie is set in a Nigerian university, I could be very wrong, but I do not think Karate is taken as an extra-curricular activity. I understand to some extent, it was relevant to the story because Koyejo teaches Moremi a form of self-defence she uses to liberate herself form Professor N’dyare. However, …was it really relevant? The move he taught her was very basic, we all probably learnt and joked about in primary school, hence, I find it very hard to believe Moremi did not already know that form of self-defence. He could have participated in a more realistic sport such as football, it would not have made him incapable of teaching Moremi how to defend herself. But to imply that the universities in Nigeria teach its students Karate, or at least to that magnitude... false.
I am yet to understand the importance of the twins with the British accent. Do people like that over the age of 12 actually exist in Nigeria? They reminded me of Disney channel children in primary school, those children that live to imitate a particular Disney channel character down to their speech, imitating their mannerism or using their punch lines. These twins continuously proved their irrelevance every time they had some screen time, and it just came off as very unrealistic, unnecessary and quite frankly annoying.
Nigeria’s official language is English, I am sure of it. Why is a Nigerian movie almost predominantly in French? I learned recently that it is was to fulfil a requirement to be considered for an Oscar, I don’t even want to get into that. This is a movie telling a Nigerian story, it is supposed to reach a Nigerian audience first before anyone else. Hence, most of the movie being in French did not make much sense to me.
I appreciate that the producers took a different angle to the ‘sex for grades’ topic, it was not the generic storyline, and to be honest they did shed light to that angle in the beginning of the movie. This is not a critique but an observation, the angle was interesting, it was new, and it created more of an avenue for discussions. However, it was not very realistic and given the circumstances and the relationship between Moremi and Professor N’dyare, in a Nigerian university, she most probably would not have won that case. However, it was rewarding to see the student victorious in this incident, just not realistic.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
In general, I think the film quality was extremely good, the university it was set in was really beautiful because the picture and scenery was perfection. However, one observation I found was the switch between the flash backs and the present day were not distinct. Usually, this is indicated by colour change, the flash backs could have been filmed in warm colours and the present-day scenes in cool colours. More so, it could be indicated by a simple text telling us the time it is set in.
Finally, the last thing I think I must make reference to is the sound effects used in the Karate fight scene. *sigh*… you can take the movie out of Nollywood, but you can’t take the Nollywood out of the movie.
Rating: 4/10