Movie Review: Dinner, on Netflix
Two old friends and their partners gather for a celebratory meal, where a fifth guest stirs up secrets that threaten to bring down both relationships
Dinner is a brilliant Nigerian movie on Netflix. It is a simple yet captivating story about the complexity of friendships. It grabs you from the first scene and at the end, you are happy that it is a time well spent.The movie is a perfect example of the kind of filmmaking that I advocate – one that leverages storytelling and great acting, rather than special effects and big-budget production and costume designs.
For one, Nigerian producers contend with a lean budget and our knowledge and resources regarding CGI (computer-generated imagery) are limited. So local movies that lean heavily on special effects tend to come out poorly, with the digitally generated imagery and environment looking unreal and somewhat laughable. But films like Dinner play to our strength, history and culture in moviemaking.
Typically, Nigerians tend to recall films that have a great plot, and relatable storyline, such as Rattle Snake, and N’kan be.Kudos to Dinner’s producer, Jay Franklyn Jituboh, who also wrote and directed the flick! It is films like this that make living in Nigeria tolerable, providing small joys. Despite the madness around and the gradual descent into anarchy, some things still make one proud of being a Nigerian. Dinner is one. Watch it.
(Cast include: Richard Mofe-Damijo, Iretiola Doyle, Enyinna Nwigwe, Kehinde Bankole, Deyemi Okanlawon, among others).
Ogunro is a Nigerian journalist.
