Adire (2023) || A Chance To Start Anew?

I’m always pumped when I see Nollywood films that are trending. I’ve heard this particular name a few times in the past months and even saw it, in passing, on Netflix. I finally decided to watch it today and had a few expectations when I clicked on ‘play.’ Here’s my honest review on:

Adire (2023)

Adire is a satirical, dramatic comedy released in January 2024. It is directed by Adeoluwa Owu and stars renowned Nigerian actors like Kehinde Bankole, Yemi Blaq, Femi Branch, and Funlola Aofiyebi, among others. It’s a two-hour film.

Summary of the Plot

Asari(Kehinde Bankole) is a sex worker who also doubles as an underwear designer. She is somewhat of a pet to Captain(Yemi Blaq) who’s also a drug dealer. While Captain sleeps one night when she was previously abused by Captain’s “special client,” she steals money from Captain’s briefcase and runs away to Oyo town where she starts life anew as Adire.

She soon gains popularity of the negative sort and is hated by the majority of women in the town with claims that she’d snatched their husbands but they soon befriend her when they realize her amazing personality plus the awesome Adire (native) underwear she sews for them.

The town, however, is extremely religious headed by the First Lady and Deaconess of the Church(Funlola Aofiyebi) who is a religious fanatic and thoroughly despises Adire. Amid all the chaos, there is Captain, who steadfastly searches for her to take revenge for her misdeeds. Would she triumph in the end?

My Review/Rating

I was never a fan of Kehinde Bankole till I watched Sista, and I’ve been in love with her since. She’s a stellar actress who knows how to interpret her roles impeccably. As soon as I saw that she was the protagonist of this film, I smiled cause I trusted that she would deliver and she did. And also Funlola who’s been one of the actresses I deeply admired in the popular and decade-long series, Tinsel. Both of them constitute the singular reason I enjoyed this film.

I also loved the themes it portrayed, especially that of religious fanaticism. It’s a phenomenon that’s quite common in these parts of the world. Extremely judgemental attitude in the name of being righteous. Coming from a very religious background, I know what it’s like and could also resonate with the statements and scriptures used as a way of “combating sinful acts” or a perceived one at least.

I enjoyed the acting of the secondary characters as well. Especially the Church women. I’m not from the Yoruba tribe but the way they spoke was funny and relatable so it was a joy to watch on many accounts.

However,

There were a few aspects of the movie I disliked. When a movie is two hours plus, there’s got to be a viable reason why that is so. So, watching the movie get overridden with unnecessary scenes and repeated speech was a pain to watch making the movie unbearably long, so much so, that even the good bits in the movie did not hide it.

Also, it was rather anticlimactic because the climax fell pretty flat. It was hard to tell who the villain was with the way the acting was done and I cringed a lot of times seeing how their attempts to establish a definitive villain proved futile. I wouldn’t like to name names, thereby, giving spoilers but there were unnecessary roles that clogged up what should have made this movie spectacular.

There was absolutely zero chemistry between Adire and her love interest. What should have been portrayed as a blossoming laugh filled with longing and vulnerability felt forced and painful to watch. While they are both great actors, their lack of chemistry was nearly palpable making that part of the movie feel lacking and dissatisfactory.

The ending, finally, proved a bit unrealistic. Aside from the anticlimactic ending, there were ends that were left untied, and new feelings that shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic. For a movie that’s supposed to border on realism, the ending left a sour taste in my mouth.

I don’t really care for the main plot aside the religious fanaticism and a drug dealer’s and human trafficker's thirst for revenge, especially since the latter is quite an overused theme in recent Nollywood productions. But, because I loved the acting and because it gave me a reason to smile a bit on this rather exhausting day, I’m giving Adire 7/10. It’s a lovely movie through and through so I hope you enjoy it.

Jhymi🖤

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_{Thumbnail is a screenshot from the movie.}

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