In today's Nollywood landscape, we typically know what to expect from movies directed towards YouTube and those produced for cinemas and streaming platforms. Usually, these films manage to get something right. However, Moyinoluwa Ezekiel’s new film, The Beads, streaming on Prime Video, defies this trend in many disappointing ways.
Despite starring an impressive cast led by Zainab Balogun, veteran actress Idowu Phillips (aka Mama Rainbow), and Shaffy Bello, many viewers would need help watching over 20 minutes of this poorly produced time loop movie. The Beads tells the story of Ranti, who is about to get married. During her elaborate engagement ceremony, chaos erupts when a shootout occurs, transporting Ranti to a beach where she interacts with her consciousness through the image of a man. This engagement shootout and beach scene repeatedly occur, with slight progress as Ranti realises what is happening. However, the narrative resolution bears no apparent relation to why Ranti keeps dreaming and waking up.
Using a time loop genre to convey a moral about making the right decisions or facing repetitive consequences isn’t a bad concept. What makes it problematic is that it seems like the film jumped straight from a first draft to filming. It’s plausible, considering that Ezekiel (known for The Bridge), who wrote and directed the film, might lack the skills to craft or effectively direct a strong screenplay.
Except for the Bride’s friends and the 'Alagas' (we don’t even know which one is Iduro or Ijoko), the rest of the cast—including Ronke Ojo, Lateef Adedimeji, Segun Arinze, Tina Mba, and Bimbo Manuel—delivered commendable performances. However, their efforts couldn’t compensate for the overall disjointed storytelling. Aside from the title feeling disconnected, the 'time loop' storyline was poorly executed. The film lacked special effects (which usually enhance time loops), suffered from poor cinematography, and featured terrible editing.
Too scared to recommend
- Jimi D Baldheaded Guy