The Lost Okoroshi (Abba T. Makama)
World Cinema
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1h 34m
Directed by Abba T. Makama • Drama • With Seun Ajayi, Judith Audu, Tope Tedela • 2019 • 94 minutes
The Lost Okoroshi follows Raymond (Seun Ajayi), a security guard (and something of a layabout) whose main preoccupations are checking out women and figuring out how to escape the bustle of Lagos in favor of the more relaxed countryside. Despite, or maybe because of, his seeming "average-ness", he's beset by surreal dreams where he's haunted by a traditional Okoroshi masquerade (ancestral spirit). One morning, our protagonist wakes up to discover he's been transformed into a purple spirit. Having lost his voice, he must navigate Lagos in this new form. His journey takes him across the society, to the club, and even into the world of a secret society bent on claiming the masquerade as their own. In his second film, Abba T. Makama plays with different influences, from Nollywood to North American music videos, and the result is a campy, visually eclectic film unlike any being produced by his contemporaries. But style never trumps substance, as beneath the formal play, Makama is probing pressing questions about modernity and masculinity that, when the laughter subsides, aren’t easily answered.
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