BLOODIED SISTERS, RAISING SPECKS OF DUST AND ENDLESS QUESTIONS

Joseph Omoniyi

Synopsis/Summary

Blood Sisters became arguably the most talked-about Nigerian film title, both in the social media space and from mouth to ear. You are almost like an outcast if you bumped into one of its discussions and you seem like the only one whose eyes are yet to behold the glory. Partly for its haves and then have-nots, Blood Sisters became a trend, raising specks of dust and questions. The Ebony Life Studios production company led by Mo Abudu after the atrocity of Chief Daddy 2 which received plenty of bashes on and offline decided to serve its movie audience with unique storytelling coated in Hollywood style of thrills, a feat which now seats on Netflix’s top 10 list in over 30 countries.

For about four hours of melodrama and thrilling actions, the limited Netflix original series directed by Biyi Bandele and Kenneth Gyang follows the story of two ‘sisters’, Sarah and Kemi who are on the run after the accidental death of Sarah’s extremely wealthy, influential and powerful groom, Kola Ademola on their wedding day. The hunt for the girls however unearths family secrets, corruption, and more evils in the heart of men.

Blood Sisters has a star-studded cast list: Ini-Dima Okojie, Nancy Isime, Kate Henshaw, Wale Ojo, Deyemi Okanlawon, Uche Jombo, Ibrahim Suleiman, Daniel Etim-Effiong, Segun Arinze, Joke Silva, Gabriel Afolayan, Ramsey Noah, Kehinde Bankole, Genoveva Umeh, Keppy Ekpeyong, Toyin Abraham, and a host of others.

 

CDP

From the opening shot, Biyi Bandele of Fifty and Half Of A Yellow Sun launches us into the middle of the sisters’ travail. The conflict. We wonder “what’s going on”? Two innocent-looking young ladies burring a dead body in a shallow grave, in the dead of night, and then takes us back to ‘the very beginning’, where Femi pays an assassin to take out someone during “the wedding”. At this point, we are already hooked, with a couple of questions. Who are those ladies? Whom are they burying? Who is Femi paying the assassin to kill ON HIS WEDDING DAY? But these are not the Central Dramatic questions of this series, but at this point, we don’t know. In fact, after witnessing the drama at the pre-wedding dinner and the engagement day itself, we think this going to be another Nollywood family drama series until we get hit by the inciting indent that turns the tide of the story we expect to a different ball game entirely. Will Sarah and Kemi get away with killing Kola, the anointed son of Uduak – the matriarch of the Ademola dynasty and the groom’s mother?

 

Plot/Sub-plot/Plants

The opening scenes already set the ball rolling for a roller coaster of drama, thriller, and depths for this series, and then we cool off with Kola breezing into his wedding after sealing up a big deal for his family company, Ademola Pharmaceutical company. And then, we are finally introduced to the whole family, headed by the ‘almighty Uduak’. The assassin is here. The one who is so good that he has a device that could unlock different cars. Femi who is also present, we realise is the older brother of the groom, Kola. But why does he want his biological brother dead, on his wedding day? The parents of the bride – the father is not so happy that the engagement is against the Ibo tradition that states the ceremony should be in the bride’s village, what choice do they have? How in the world would they have been able to throw such a luxury party and more? The first blow – Kola hits his bride-to-be right in the stomach, causing her pain in a hidden place, gradually setting him up as a hideous character, is he? This unsettles and steers further the sea of the openings leading us to the inciting incident.  But wait, how in the world does Kola manage to hide this part of himself from ‘everyone’?

At the rehearsal wedding engagement dinner, Timeyin, the last child of the Ademolas interrupts the awkward bride’s father’s speech to announce her arrival from the rehab. – One of the ‘embarrassments’ Uduak is willing to go to any length to avoid staining the fabrics of her family brand. If you think, “how in the world does the mother of the bride miss the ocean of sadness flooding her daughter’s face misses even the Nigerian logic, wait until she gives her a pep talk, every good reason Sarah must stick with a would-be-husband that would treat her with a blow at every provocation.

After a conversation with Kemi her best friend, Sarah decides to call off the engagement, enraging Kola who lets out the beast in him, the rich-abusive-son-of-a-wealthy-powerful-woman, choking Sarah to death, but not before Kemi accidentally shoots him dead. This immediately sets the tone of the film story – this is not your regular Nigerian film series that attempts to tell for the umpteenth time, another story of an abusive husband from a powerful or wealthy family. The two friends-turn-sisters must find a way to cover up their accidental ‘murder’ while the rest of both families and wedding guests wait for the groom – nowhere to be found, everyone panics except Uduak who believes her son has finally allowed reason to prevail by running away from the potential marriage to a low-life Sarah – She “would rather take the hit now, than be saddled with those peasants”. And Femi immediately sees an opportunity to sit at the table of affairs of the family business he has secretly craved for.

As for the bride’s family, they believe their daughter’s ‘unreasonable and selfish’ attitude must have chased their benefactor away.

After arguing about how to get rid of Kola’s body, who is going to butcher his head, Sarah and Kemi finally bury the corpse in a shallow grave, but not before they are sighted by one of the event’s photographers who takes quick snaps of them moving the body.

Now, Sarah has to play the “jilted bride” as she heads back to Kola’s family house. But no way! Uduak will not allow her near the house that is now ensuing in a battle of who takes over Kola’s seat, at least for the meantime. Femi who thought Kola’s disappearance would create a slip-in-slide for him meets a seemingly strong opposition in Timeyin who has also got her eyes on him after revealing to him what Kola said at the wedding before his sudden disappearance.

Just when they think they can ease into their normal lives and businesses while their family wonder in mystery, The Photographer shows up, with photos, but he is willing to be bought, with money – “lots of it” and then, ‘more of it’. This time they have 48-hours.

Meanwhile, the photographer is not the only one that is being bought. Femi and his wife offer Timeyin money and drugs for her to get out of Femi’s way to the family’s business highest seat of affairs which raises suspicions of his dirty involvement in his younger brother’s disappearance. Uduak will not give Timeyin a listening ear, no thanks to the past shame and embarrassment she has brought to the family with her drug-addicted life. Timeyin disappointed, goes back to the drug and the club, while the sisters seek the gun to get rid of the pestering photographer.

Timeyin gets locked up in a religious rehab centre and Femi finally gets his wish. The sisters, again, ‘accidentally’ kill the photographer. This time, Sarah does the job, running him over with Kemi’s car after he hijacks the gun from Kemi’s jittery hands.

However, their seemingly ‘big wins’ are almost immediately interrupted by two stray dogs. Yes. The stray dogs sniff out Kola’s body from the shallow grave. This shatters Uduak’s heart into pieces – her beloved, anointed son is killed and buried like a dog.

Investigations led by Inspector Chicago begin. He ensures every relevant connection to the deceased is questioned. The questioning leads to Kenny, Sarah’s ex-boyfriend as the first prime suspect for his drama at the pre-wedding dinner. This shouldn’t be a problem, at least not for Kemi who believes this will further take suspicious eyes far away from them, but Sarah reveals she’s confessed their crime to Kenny. This unsettles Kemi who now thinks of crossing the border to evade arrest.

Meanwhile, Inspector Chicago finally lays his hands and eyes on the clips from the hotel’s CCTV which shows Sarah and Kemi loading suspicious baggage into the trunk of Kemi’s car while they are disguised in housekeepers’ uniforms. The police gather a team led by Inspector Chicago and DPO to Kemi’s house to arrest the sisters, but they meet the house empty.

And so, the hunt begins, for the sisters on the run. The hunt however uncovers some family revelations, rivalry, domestic violence and abuse, and systemic corruption.

Screenplay

Blood Sisters’ screenplay works well more than many other Nollywood movies on Netflix. A couple of loopholes, but they are forgivable. I mean, how realistic would a strong-faced guy walk around, pursuing the groom at a Nigerian wedding event that has heavy security men in suits and CCTV in almost every corridor not forgetting nosy guests and paparazzi as well. How now!? Also, Mr Blade with all of his ‘Hollywood-style preparations’ gets beaten and killed just like that. How did Kemi get so good with her shooting skill that she hit her target straight on the head? But movie-making is about combining realities and fantasies. So, at some points, the writers choose to settle for using entertainment to further t威而鋼
he plot rather than using believability or reality. Other than those, the structure of the screenplay is so enjoyable. The characters are used to further the story’s development. From the opening series of scenes to the inciting incident, the story develops organically making it easily addictive and easy to keep watching till the end, with recallable, pause and ponder lines like, “if anything happens to me, look to our brother”, “you should listen to your wife, she has more sense than you”, “are you willing to risk everything because of one slap?”. The plot points are creatively weaved together as slip-in-slide, not allowing the characters to bury the premise. Each episode laden with a specific purpose and goal ends with a major twist.

 

Character and Characterisation

One of the major strengths of these series is its characters, characterization, and casting.

Each of the major characters is made to evolve with the story and flourish. Although most of the major characters lack distinct backstories or they aren’t explored maybe due to the fact it’s a limited series, some things have to be rushed.

Sarah and Kemi, the major characters of this limited series have the goal of escaping from the police and the wrath of Uduak. They are two childhood friends who become sisters. While Sarah is the less-confident, vulnerable victim of domestic violence and abuse, Kemi is the opposite. She will go to any length to protect and help her friend. She is the representation of a die-hard friend. A friend that could kill for you. Played by Ini-Dima Okojie and Nancy Isime, Sarah Duru and Kemi Sanya get hooked in a precarious situation after Kemi tried to defend her friend as Kola attempted to kill her during their engagement. Kemi eventually is able to convince Sarah that confessing to homicide will not work, instead, they should bury the corpse. With Kola missing, they both desperately plot solutions to their growing problem. Trouble finally finds them as new pieces of evidence point straight at them with Uduak bent on consuming them instead of handing them over to the police. They must run for their dear lives, committing more crimes in the process – armed robbery, car theft, murder, attempted murder, evading arrest. Meanwhile, they must also fight more disguised enemies – people with personal agendas desperate to bury painful truths for life. They find themselves in more deadly situations and family feuds. This pair of characters highlights a pure love relationship, a friendship that is so free of bad blood, backbiting, envy, witch-hunting, and betrayal. – Just pure love.

Ini and Nancy deliver stunning performances in this series. Their connection, relationship, and chemistry feel maybe too surreal, but believable. Especially Nancy. The closeness of her real personality kind of helps her delivery a bit. Nancy naturally seems like that kind of friend you can trust with your secrets, emotions, vulnerability, and more.

Kola played by the heavily talented and dynamic actor, Deyemi Okanlawon, is a psychopath, a serial domestic abuser, who manages to hide his devilish secrets from even his best man and friend.

Uduak, the revered matriarch of the Ademola family, the lady force never to be messed with, is so cold that the only warmth she has is for Kola whose head was chopped off during his supposed wedding engagement. She crushes anything for her ambition. Her presence fills every space she is in. She will rather suck a soakaway than be caught in a public embarrassment like announcing the cancellation of her son’s wedding engagement.

This villainous role played by the gorgeous, ageless Kate Henshaw is a beauty to behold. In fact, it will be a difficult feat to pick favourite actors from this series. Mo Abudu and her team carefully, and intentionally assembled talented, professional A-list actors that fit and make their roles enjoyable. Imagine a movie project that has Joke Sliva, Zack Orji, and Toyin Abraham playing minor roles.

Ramsey Noah plays the in-house mercenary, Uncle B who does the dirty job for Uduak. This is something very far from the lover-boy character we’ve been used to. From Living in Bondage, Ramsey introduced us to the villainous side of his craft and he did it well, but in Blood Sisters, he clearly shows us there’s more. There is more that, for about one hour into the series without saying a single line, he delivers a commanding performance with his mannerism and facials.

Timeyin is the ‘black sheep’ of the Ademola family, a drug and sex addict who snicks into the pre-wedding dinner to embarrass Uduak. She struggles with her addictions but wants to do better. She eventually becomes the rod of justice for the antagonists, as she is driven to madness by the unfolding dramas and revelations, including the neglect by her mother whose only love is for the chosen son, Kola. Genoveva Umeh, a British-Nigerian actress plays this role to the best of any Nigerian actress’ ability, and you wonder who else could have done better.

Kehinde Bankole and Gabriel Afolayan play Olayinka and Femi, the mysterious, weird couple who spend most of their onscreen time grinding their intestines out. They can hardly be separated. You could almost tell that sex is a major drive in their marriage. They literarily end arguments with hot banging. Femi is the timid, low-self esteem hubby that cannot finish one wrap of pap-cake. The wife is the direct opposite. She is fierce and could easily pass as Uduak’s daughter. The pairing of Gabriel and Kehinde for these roles reminds me of Ramsey Noah and Kate Henshaw, Rita Dominic, and Jim Iyke in the early 2000s.

Cinematography

The cinematography is brilliant and laudable at many points. It takes us through the horizon of Lekki and then to the slum of Makoko. With shots that creatively position Uduak. She fills each of her frames, making her the most powerful figure in every space. The lighting is also so good. None of Mo Abudu’s movies has ever fallen short of fantastic cinematography though. But, Gyang who directs the last two episodes however overused the dutch-angle and some other movement shots.

Directorial Prowess/Production Design/Post-production

So, this series has a combination of two directors. Biyi directs the first two episodes, while Kenneth directs the last two. Coupled with the fact that it also has four writers and several other story developers including Mo Abudu herself, this affords the series to be approached from unique, fresh storytelling perspectives.

Kenneth uses the zoom-ins, push-ins wild swings during some of the tense moments. At some point, you wonder if he’s trying to pull off some Indian-movie camera works.

The production design is top-notch and helps the story in many ways. The aesthetic costumes and sets are used to amplify the characters’ personalities. Although Uduak’s is a bit exaggerated. She wears her gorgeous ‘costumes’ even in the bedroom. And, whoever picks the colour green and then yellow for Blade needs some explanations to do.

 

Lesson Learnt

For the takeaway lessons from this mini-series, it’s just centred around a relationship. Relationships – family, platonic, sexual, and what people do to keep their relationships. The relationships are what the screenplay knottily develops into feuds, rivalry, murder, corruption, and more. What would you do for and for the sake of your relationship? As spill-outs, the series also explores drug addiction, illegal organ sales, gender-based violence, and the roles different relations play. Sarah’s parents, Mr and Mrs Duru wouldn’t mind sacrificing their daughter to domestic violence because they see her as a poverty alleviation scheme, but Kemi will never allow her friend to go ahead and marry a man that batters her even on their wedding day.

Conclusion

Looking past some of those pardonable loopholes highlighted, Blood Sisters is an enjoyable, fascinating, and thrilling watch. The storytelling style is a lot better than the regular Nollywood movies characterized by heavy predictability, too weak characters, and unconvincing acting. Though it’s a bit melodramatic, no doubt, it reopens conversations around serious issues. Above all, it’s a ‘Hollywood-wannabe’ [smiles].

Verdict

This movie earns a 70/100 for repping quality. Cheers!

Shoots.ng’s Score Guard

Every Item is 10 marks and 100% in all.

71- 100%= you are the bomb, be ready for Oscar

51-70%= thank you for repping quality

31- 50%= you can do better, up your game

11-30%= Return to film school

01- 10%= Filming is not for you, look for another job