Review: A scattered search for self
Topsy-turvy, jumbled up and somewhat out of step.
Wilfred Okiche
Funke Akindele is a formidable triple threat: star actor, producer and director. Her last three movies hold the top three spots on the Nigerian all-time box office charts. As others struggle to bring audiences to the cinemas, her December releases are blockbuster events.
No doubt looking to capitalise on Akindele’s popularity, Amazon Prime Video acquired her latest melodrama as a direct to streaming original.
Finding Me, which Akindele co-directs with Isioma Osaje is, however, a tonally inconsistent misfire. It situates a woman’s journey of self-discovery at its centre but is unable to do anything coherent or consistent with its premise.
Akindele plays Tinuke Phillips, an insecure heiress trapped in an abusive relationship with her hubby Kola (Joseph Benjamin). With the help of the usual suspects – a loyal best friend (Omoni Oboli) and a potential love interest (Efa Iwara) – she begins to take ownership of her own agency.
Running over 2.5 hours, Finding Me’s structure feels drawn out and episodic – better suited, perhaps, for television. The picture looks cheap and unconvincing, and the writing uninspired.
Finding Me tries to pass as progressive but the messaging is muddled. It opens with Tinuke’s duplicitous husband breaking the fourth wall to introduce the action and major players. The point of view shifts, his character recedes to the margins and Tinuke’s arc to fore. But then she spends most of that screen time catering to the demands of a domineering father, a spoiled brother and a manipulative husband, barely ever sitting with herself.
In the end, the film only ends up reinforcing gender stereotypes both at home and in the workplace: women are emotional beings who need the love of a good man for redemption.
The pull of Akindele’s superstardom might be enough for hardcore fans to go with the flow, but this time the filmmaker in her hasn’t found anything interesting to present.