Bad Day is a 2008 independent British film starring, among others, Claire Goose, Donna Air, Sarah Harding (first acting performance in a feature film for the late Girls Aloud band member), Anthony Ofoegbu and Robbie Gee (famous for his rambunctious character - Lee Stanley - from the Peckham barbershop sitcom, Desmonds, and a regular on the BBC's The Real McCoy).
Directed by Ian David Diaz, Bad Day waxes eloquent about Nigerian Jollof rice and Highlife music. Highlife is a precursor to Afrobeats, which, together with cuisine, are two of the cultural elements from Nigeria that mostly straddle the global stage currently.
Anthony Ofoegbu, who starred and co-wrote with Alan Dunlop and Diaz, is a UK-based actor of Nigerian/Irish descent and an ally of the Soyinka coterie. He’s especially close to the Tunji Oyelana family, who owned and ran the one-time famous Emukay on Old Kent Road, where the restaurant scene in the movie was filmed.
Although it is not one of the main thrusts of the story, the references will no doubt evoke nostalgia about the great moments that the eatery offered its teeming patrons from its inception in 2003 until it closed shop in 2020.
The storyline is as expected of a crime film; however, the conclusion may likely divide opinions, as may the sporadic bouts of violence that dotted the film's run. Another soothing note is that the thriller boasts a generous feature of familiar London streets.
Originally released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010, it’s now streaming on Netflix.
Segun Martins Fajemisin,
Publisher and Knowledge & Information manager