Run (Nollywood)

 Run (2019 Nigerian film) - Wikipedia

    Although my exposure to Nollywood has been limited, this film is an incredible introduction to the minimal and free style of film industry. The stressful, and somewhat realistic storyline achieves the goal of expressing anxiety and fear. The dark settings and untrustworthy characters make you as fearful as the main character. 

    After seeing Tomilola's perfectly constructed life at the beginning of the film, where she shows of her perfectly decorated house and her nice advertisement job, the audience feels as comfortable as she does in her protected environment. When she goes on her run and her safe life is traded in for a night of survival, the audience feels the shift immediately. With every turn she runs into a new person that could potentially help her. The audience feels every emotion with her, from the small inkling of hope to the renewed fear of realizing that this new character is not going to help her either. The audience forgets about her perfect life, and any semblance of comfort is forgotten for a fight or flight reaction.

    At some point in the film, I had accepted that she may never get help, and even though I knew that things would get better when the sun rose, I was stuck with the main character in an unending night. The only reminder I had of her normal life was when she helped the man with the seizure. The flashbacks to the program she was watching at home reminding me that their was a world outside of this night. The director succeeds in his suture techniques. The audience truly fears for her safety, praying for some end to the terrifying night, and in the meantime, we just have to watch her run.   

Comments

  1. eddyNovember 16, 2020 at 2:35 PM

    I agree with how fearful it feels to be alone with the main character. I was always at the edge of my seat waiting for something more to happen, and I was not disappointed. the raw aesthetic made the film all the more intriguing.

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  2. AmyNovember 30, 2020 at 6:16 PM

    This film demonstrates the ability of the Nigerian film industry to make an engaging film even with so many economic constrictions. The film manages to tell an engaging story, make some minor political critique, and give a perspective on life in Lagos with much less than half the budget that it would have cost if Hollywood had done it.

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