Ijakumo could have been a hit!

Ijakumo tells the story of a pastor who falls for a stripper. Unknown to him, it’s all part of his ex-lover’s plan to destroy him. The film features Toyin Abraham, Kunle Remi, Eso Dike, Lolade Okusanya, Debbie Shokoya, Olumide Oworu and Bimbo Akintola, amongst others.

The story showed the lengths that women would go to for love and revenge. It’s funny how Asabi wanted to destroy Jide because he was taking from everyone but she was the one who led him on that path.

I went into this film with zero expectations because the trailer was terrible and historically Toyin Abraham’s movies are filled with flaws. Maybe that’s the reason why I liked this film a little. I was shocked by how good it was, well at least in the beginning. It all went downhill at some point.

Let’s start with what I liked…

Kunle Remi

Kunle Remi’s performance in this film was really good. I think it has to be one of my favorites of him in any film. He was the perfect fake pastor. It just made sense. When I saw him as a pastor in the beginning, with Lily Afe as his wife I was like huh? But then it all made sense as the story progressed.

I just really liked his lines and how he delivered them, especially the scenes where Mary was asking for money for her sisters lupus, when he met Sharon for the first time, and his conversation with Mary in church after he gave her money.

My favorite scene was the church scene where he fantasized about Mary/Sharon and imagined her naked on the altar. That was a daring scene, but also very realistic. It captured a stark reality of where people’s hearts really are when they are in church. It’s very disheartening to see that the pastor who is supposed to be leading the congregation to God, is the one with the filthiest heart. This is how many fake pastors deceive innocent people.

Young Asake and Jide

Really good performances from Debbie Shokoya and Olumide Oworu as the young Asabi and Jide. I like how they started in the middle and worked their way back to the origin story. I also didn’t realize that Olumide Oworu could speak Yoruba that well.

And the not so good…

Cast

Toyin Abraham did not need to be in this film. Her acting was terrible. I don’t understand this new thing where good actresses feel the need to over act. I would have preferred Debbie Shokoya to continue on as Asabi because her performance was just way better.

Also, what was up with the hair? I need Toyin to explain the significance of the hair like I really thought she was going to pull a Samson and Delilah move but alas I was wrong! It was so irrelevant to the whole story like carrying the whole thing up and down was just weird. Her whole character just didn’t make sense as she had all this power but still needed to hire some stripper to do her dirty work???? It’s not adding up.

Lolade Okusanya was a good actress and I liked the fact that Toyin used someone that wasn’t so popular to play the lead, however it felt like she was overacting a lot when it came to playing Sharon from Uganda, and that accent was not Ugandan — it was wack and they could have just left her with no accent. It felt like she only put on an accent when she remembered. It was off!

I like Eso Dike so much but his character was underutilized in this film. It wasn’t until the end that I realized he was Jide’s brother, Wale. With Asabi and Jide, we immediately knew who they were but not with him. Also, his young character didn’t match the older character at all. His older character just seemed silent, unlike his younger character who was energetic and full of ideas.

Product placements

The marketing was way too obvious — Wakanow? Jtech? Common!!!!! Toyin is way too experienced for all these small mistakes. It’s quite clear she doesn’t take on feedback and does whatever she likes. If she continues to fight people that take the time to watch her films and provide feedback on them, she won’t grow.

The cult

A cult of powerful men with a female leader and no other women in the group? I wasn’t sure about this part. The whole cult thing was flat because they were supposed to be really powerful but somehow crumbled because of basic information on a flash drive. It also wasn’t explained what happened to the other men and how they died. I also wish I had seen how Jide joined the cult — we know it was through Ifeanyi, but at what point did he decide to join a cult?

The fake twist

Now to the main thing that annoyed me the most. Why did Mary and Sharon need to be twins? Honestly this ruined the whole story. It was not needed. That whole reunion was just begging to be a twist and it did not land at all! The story would have been a lot more interesting if they were the same person.

I don’t even want to talk about the fight scene and fake special effects in the end because it brings tears to my poor eyes. Terrible!

In summary…

The story and the visuals in this film will trigger EVERY Christian. The film was painful to watch because this is what some people are doing to desecrate the house of the Lord (and also because the story lacked focus).

Finally, I think Nigerian writers need to focus when writing stories. Simplicity is key. We don’t have to always try to write over complicated stories let’s just focus on our strengths. I definitely think Toyin Abraham has good ideas but she needs better writers. The film is 5/10 for me.

Ijakumo is available to watch on Netflix.