U-TURN: Movie review

U-Turn; Written and directed by: Gabriel Afolayan

Year released: 2021

Produced by:  Studio 6 Multimedia Ltd

U-turn entails a story of a driver and his passenger, and the typical hindrances faced when travelling by road in Nigeria.

At first, I was intrigued and eager to see this movie, with great expectations, however, my hopes were shattered. The movie begins with a radio broadcast in the background while Oga Kamo (Ebun Oloyede), the driver sits on the bonnet of his vehicle.

I saw that in the course of the travel, Mr Chukwudinma the passenger attempted to aim his gun at the driver, however, his intention was not made known to the viewer, unlike the ulterior motive behind Mr Kamo’s drive which was revealed to the viewers. Was it for a money ritual? Or a targeted kill? since he mentioned something about his conscience not letting him. I was left wondering till the end of the movie, the reason he wanted to kill the driver.

Aside from the known hurdles that are always faced by travelers on road due to the carelessness of drivers and the obvious negligence of our dear government when it comes to fixing roads, I watched the movie with the expectation of a twist or something more intriguing happening in the movie… but alas, nothing happened. I guess this was a way of keeping the viewers intent on seeing the end of the movie.

 

Asides from being disappointed, some scenes were certainly confusing. For instance, when Mr Kamo fainted while he gave a tale about his son, one would think that maybe the son was killed brutally for stealing, which could make recounting the incident quite heartbreaking, however, this was not the case. He refused to visit his son when he was arrested and survived him cutting cake but fainted while giving the story. I would think it was overly dramatic and confusing.

Agreeing with Kemi Filani, I would say that Mr Gabriel Afolayan should only rethink movie directing and production after considerable improvement in skill. 

However, I would say the progression of the movie was not bad, the cinematography was also okay. Moreover,  some scenes got some chuckles out from me, and the cameo appearances such as Tina Mba did good jobs. Also, I will not forget to commend Mr Chukwudinma for his display of fluency in several languages, it is not easy to speak more than three languages in just a single movie coupled with a motivating lesson behind the story. In all, the story was quite relatable but realistically stretched.

Our rating is 5/10