Nigerian Prince

I don't always give Nigerian movies a try, but this won my heart from the beginning. I enjoyed the manner the plot develops, the acting was genuine and serious. The subtle sound tracks gives the film an endearing score. I know it's not 100% giving it's an African movie rocking an African budget but the directing was really fine and intentional, the editing was professional cut. Overall I advise potential viewers to give it a chance:

I was invested in the story all the way through and I think it also had a cool ending. Worth watching Definitely

The synopsis is that of an American-Nigerian teenager sent by his mother to Nigeria INDEFINITELY to teach him a lesson after he got into a school fight, under the pretense of his need to learn about his roots. The Nigerian cousin, a scammer himself, says to the teen that everyone in Nigeria only cares about money, and as any parent knows, the company young people keep are a huge influence. So why would a mother send her child from the US to Nigeria, in his formative years???

Moreover, if the mother cares so deeply about her Nigerian roots, how come she has no idea how old her nephew is, or what he does? She wants her sister to look after her son, without knowing how her sister took care of her own son.

The mindless plot goes on and on, but there is value in seeing some of the scams. Sadly, these scammers are shown to con not only the greedy, as the cousin says, but also their own working people, like the scam of selling rice at half price as an incentive first, then charging for the promise of getting rice at half price.

If you suspend disbelief, the rest is not so bad: acting is decent, and there's a morale.

I really enjoyed this film. It's no surprise that all the critics gave this film very high ratings. The critics highly approved of this film.

I enjoyed it. The acting was great. The writer, director and producer all did very excellent jobs with this film. I truly enjoyed watching Nigerian Prince about a Nigerian American teenager going back home and the excitement, challenges and adventure.

Pius was an excellent actor and I loved his character and swagger.

Okoro did it real big and real well with this film. I look forward to more films from him.

The film had great critic reviews but some regular users were I believe a bit unfair with their reviews. Well the critics don't lie!

-The type of genre filmmaking American cinema used to excel at. Now it is left to a 30 year old (at time of filming) Nigerian-American to take over from where so many other American director have failed

-Where this excels it first and foremost the script. Probably one of the best written movies I've seen in a very long time. Like "Back to the Future", almost every single character, line of dialogue, or scene is meant to be either set up and payed off or be in service of moving the plot along. There is not a single wasted line, wasted character, and wasted development. Every single thing matters in this film and goddamn if that isn't refreshing to see. When even the main character's name "Eze" goes with his easy manipulated character, you know you have a perfect and well thought out script on your hands

-The direction is also excellent in this, great directing of actors, but the blocking is also fantastic. I harp on digital cinema a good amount, but when a director actually knows how use it, then I am for it. So much of this movie is creatively shot or framed, lots of wonderful characters-looking-into-camera shots during intense emotional sequences. Great use of framing for comedic moments (comedy lives in wide angle), and just really gorgeous looking movie, everything feels so perfectly handled behind the camera. I would argue Okoro's direction is on the level of Michael Mann's in "Blackhat" which is very high praise

-And along with direction & editing, this movie is perfectly paced, not an ounce of fat on this entire thing. Even a simple dialogue scene that seems unnecessary is used purposefully to detail a character's philosophy and motivations. The movie never stops moving, and yet still always manages to have time to set characters up, and have a beginning, middle, and end to every single sequence. If I were to think of it like the sports fan I am, I would say it is in equivalence to a baseball pitcher throwing a no hitter or a hockey goaltender getting a 50 save shutout. Just a director and editor both working to create a movie that despite being 101 minutes, only feels about 70 minutes long. Probably the most perfectly paced movie I've seen in a very long time, probably since maybe "Surrender Dorothy"

-Also manages to do a fantastic job creating and building a fully realized world. Nigeria is essentially a character in this, a land of well-meaning people having to deal with and service themselves in the land of scammers. And in the land of scammers, everyone is a target. But similar to "Blackhat", the country of Nigeria is so well-realized, you get a great sense of geography and what the country is about. And like with "Blackhat" every single scene at night is perfectly shot and lit, utilizing digital filmmaking to a strength

-A writer-director understanding his film perfectly at every single level, from editing, lighting, cinematography, blocking, performances, and screenplay structure. Kind of a perfect movie in all honesty. And just like another near perfect Netflix movie from the same year, "Calibre". This director has yet to make anything since, and that is such a shame.

-Anyone who misses great genre filmmaking but for some reason won't read subtitles. Not only do you not have to read subtitles, but if you own Netflix there is one of the best genre films from the last decade just sitting there. This desperately needs to be seen more.