Blood Sisters Nigerian movie, created by Temidayo Makanjuola, is a Netflix mini-series that is four episodes long. In it, Sarah Duru (Ini Dima Okojie) is getting married to Kola Ademola (Deyemi Okanlawon). Kola is the successful head of a pharmaceutical company who comes from an industrious family, to the glee of her ecstatic parents, Ifeanyi (Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey) and Olayinka (Kehinde Bankole), and to the chagrin of Kola’s mother, Uduak (Kate Henshaw-Nuttal).
When it turns out that Kola isn’t the best of men, after he shows himself to be domineering and physically abusive, Sarah’s best friend Kemi Sanya (Nancy Isime) demands that she breaks up with him before it is too late.
Sarah’s mother is insistent that she stays and not ruin her marriage because of one slap. Things escalate after Kola is almost killed by an assassin suspected to be sent by Femi (Gabriel Afolayan), his younger brother, who he thwarts. The plot moves very quickly when Kola confronts his fiancé, Sarah and he gets killed in the ensuing argument, we assume by Sarah, with the same assassin’s gun in a struggle.
Credit: YouTube
Sarah and Kemi hide the evidence of their crime and go on the run, having to evade both the Nigerian Police and Kola’s influential family.
Blood Sisters is not a traditional whodunit thriller as we already know who did it and why. It focuses its storytelling on each of the characters, their unique perspectives, and their motivations for their parts in the plot. The characters are deeply interconnected in surprising ways that unfold over the expansive storytelling. The first episode is quite the rollercoaster, but the subsequent episodes are slower, providing more of a backstory for the characters and explaining how they got to the engagement party where the story initially begins.
The plot, at its core, is a deceptively simple tale about two women with a deep friendship that grows bonds into sisterhood. The duo will go to great lengths to be there for each other. That is the underlying plot but with the way the story is told, mysteries abound and it holds more than a few surprises, breaking the Nollywood mould of predictable storytelling. The complex plot is beautifully enacted by the ensemble cast of Nollywood’s best and brightest.
This Biyi Bandele and Kenneth Gyang-directed series pay attention to the nuances of great storytelling. The only drawback might be that it gets a bit slow but later gathers momentum to deliver on all its promises of a jaw-dropping twist at the end.
Blood Sisters is not given to the drudgery dragged-out scenes and unnecessary dialogue. It is just the right size. Only four episodes long make it the perfect length to binge-watch this weekend.
Ebonylife Studios has indeed redeemed themselves after the iconic and historic farce of Chief Daddy Two, which they started the New Year with. Blood Sisters is exactly the messiah they needed and it is timely, indeed.
Blood Sisters is currently on Netflix.
Didi Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
