By Naomi Salami
Movie Title: A Sunday Affair
Release Date: 14, February, 2023
Runtime: 1hr,36mins.
Director: Walter Taylaur
Producer: Ebony Life Media
Background
If you’re looking for a movie that tugs at your heart strings, then A Sunday Affair is a beautiful way to kick-start your weekend. The movie is a fine blend of romance, suspense, heart wrenching scenes, and plot twists. The Netflix-Nigerian movie is woven around two best friends. The phrase “joined at the hip” is the perfect description of their friendship.
The movie opens with two protagonists of the show Uche (Nse Ikpe-Etim) and Toyin (Dakore Akande) in the year 1999, sitting on a wood bridge pier by the beachside and taking in the view of the calming beach scenery. Fast forward to the year 2009 and our female characters have blossomed into young ladies, sitting on the same pier which is now a location dear to them. The scene further showcases their inseparable bond when Uche, who happens to be the play girl of the pair, chooses Toyin over her boyfriend, saying, “There’s going to be other guys, but there is only one us.”
Credit: Netflix Nigeria
The Plot
The movie kicks off fully in the year 2023 and our main characters have become full grown women. We saw them wearing all white in the wedding ceremony of Uche’s younger sister, Kelechi (Uzor Osimkpa) and Uche seems to be the same playgirl and Toyin is left with no choice but to chaperone her throughout the wedding to stop her from mingling with the married men in the ceremony. A feat that was later defeated as the movie goes on when Uche gets it on with a guest who happens to be going through divorce proceedings but was scolded by his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Despite just doing the deed, Uche doesn’t seem to be remorseful about the incident, even after getting a scolding from Toyin. Surprisingly, Toyin bumps into our charming wedding guest, whose name is Sunday (Oris Erhuero) on a train heading to Ibadan and although she wasn’t pleased to meet him at first, his charm broke her resolve later in the day and they ended up sharing dinner together and almost shared a kiss together in the elevator. Trust me, we saw it coming before they left the dinner table.
What about Uche you might ask. What we thought was a one-time fling turned into multiple sexcapades, which became a dilemma for Sunday because of the feelings he had for the two women. After consulting with his half-brother (Alexx-Ekubo), who warned him of the impending doom looming over his head if he continues the relationship with both women, he decided to break up with both of them. But, that was the beginning of his troubles.
The Casts
We couldn’t help but notice the energy Nse Ikpe-Etim brought to the big screen and not because of her men-playing abilities, but the vulnerability she brought into most scenes. In the public eye, she was seen as someone who slept around with married men for money but her vulnerability only showed whenever she was with Toyin or Sunday. But she was far from a cry-baby in this movie.
Charming, witty and captivating were all the attributes of Oris Erhuero, although not new to the TV screen, but had a way of captivating the audience with his persona. Believe me when I say, I would love to see more of him in more Nollywood movies.
Drawbacks
The movie had a great storyline, heart-wrenching scenes and plot twists but some acting scenes didn’t feel natural. Like the elevator scene of Uche and Sunday didn’t seem natural which is unlike Dakore Akande. We couldn’t help but notice the repetition of some costume choices. The fiery look that the directors were trying to achieve for Nse Ikpe-Etim was too obvious. They didn’t have to give a particular hair-do to go with throughout the movie just to achieve that.
The attention to detail, especially when it came to the scenes where Uche was undergoing chemotherapy were lacking. It felt a bit rushed towards the end and ended up having some plot holes.
Opinion
Regardless of the hiccups, ‘A Sunday Affair’ is filled with a lot of deep connections and it goes to show that true friendship can not be bought. It was released on Valentine’s Day which makes it a romantic movie but it had more depth than we thought it would and it may have brought out a few tears along the way. It also sheds more light on open relationships and ‘love triangle’ and how complicated they are. Though relative, for me, this movie is a hit!
A Sunday Affair is streaming now on Netflix and it is a must watch.
Naomi Salami is a Content Manager with Meiza Nigeria
