Written and directed by Damilola Orimogunje, in 1990s Nigeria, two estranged sisters forced to live under the same roof while caring for their paralysed mother navigate grief, ambition, love, and the fragile bonds of family. Starring: Bimbo Akintola, Tosin Adeyemi, Lanre Hassan, William Benson and Antar Laniyan.
Within Dear Ajayi there is a vital, poignant story, Damilola Orimogunje is exploring such key issues of harassment, abuse, and women’s self-worth. Orimogunje deftly portrays the intensity of male fragility and insecurity, in order to capture the importance of resilience and strength of women, and how extremely important it is to break the cycle of patriarchy. The writing strongly commits to realism and refuses to give in to scandal or violence. It’s a tale which is told quietly but gracefully.
The directorial style from Orimogunje matches that, it very much reflects womanhood in its atmosphere which holds mix of warmth and complexity. The colouring work is excellent, there’s a nicely consistent, strong aesthetic all throughout Dear Ajayi from cinematographer Kc Obiajulu. There’s also a wonderful score from Ré Olunuga to enhance the emotional nature of the writing, as the way that it plays out is very reserved.
However, the element holding back Dear Ajayi is the pacing and progression, it may unfortunately cause some viewers to disengage. It has a very purposeful, but slow pacing which does hinder Dear Ajayi from putting a really strong emotional punch behind its themes. Part of that is also how it moves, the timeline can be slightly confusing, the passage of time is not always clear.
Although an element which certainly does not disappoint is the performances. Bimbo Akintola and Tosin Adeyemi do a superb job of capturing two strikingly different women who both fall prey to being held back by fragile masculinity. Portraying the dulling of their sparks by the weak men around them, and how they have to fight to stop that. They both give elegant portrayals, creating a delicate balance of stoic and emotionally charged, it’s only a shame we don’t get to see that sisterly bond develop further.
Dear Ajayi has a meaningful story to tell, but it doesn’t always make the best choices to tell it in the most effective manner. It’s hindered by that slow pacing and the lack of smoothness to its progression, which is a shame as there’s a sincerely poignant story at its heart. Bimbo Akintola and Tosin Adeyemi are both terrific and instil a lot of emotion and presence within the film. Presence is something it’s in no short supply of, it has an atmosphere which is strong with tension and palpable frustration. It’s wonderfully shot, scored and is moving and authentic, it’s simply not reaching its full potential.
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