Some Nollywood movies come dressed like romcoms: cute meeting, flirty banter, nice lighting, and maybe a wedding poster for camouflage. Then halfway through, they yank the romance away and become heartbreak stories, family dramas, trauma tales or other things we can’t even explain.
You are about to find out if you have been calling the wrong movies romcoms. These are ten Nollywood movies that feel like romcoms but aren’t.
A Sunday Affair (2023)
Running time: 1h 36m
Director: Walter Banger
Genre: Romance, Drama
Two lifelong best friends, Uche (Nse Ikpe-Etim) and Toyin (Dakore Akande Eghuson), unknowingly fall for the same charming man called Sunday (Oris Erhuero), and it sets up an interesting Nollywood love triangle. A fallout happens when the women realise they’re dating the same guy.
However, the romantic rivalry is masked by a terminal cancer diagnosis. Instead of a cute competition for Sunday’s heart, the movie turns into a tear-jerking tragedy about mortality, grief and friendship. The romance with Sunday only serves as a catalyst for a much deeper look at the enduring power of friendship (in the face of death).
Watch A Sunday Affair on Netflix.
Falling (2015)
Running time: 1h 33m
Director: Niyi Akinmolayan
Genre: Romance, Drama
Muna (Adesua Etomi Wellington) and Imoh (Kunle Remi) are a married couple whose lives get turned upside down after Imoh gets into an accident and slips into a coma. She sticks with him and hopes that he’ll regain consciousness soon. During the course, she meets Yemi (Blossom Chukwujekwu). One thing leads to another and she gets pregnant for him.
A few days after she finds out, Imoh wakes up from the coma. Eventually, she tells him and he tells her to abort. This leads to a back-and-forth, but eventually they make up and raise Yemi’s baby together. The romcom flair in this movie is missing. All there are themes of caregiving, marital duty and guilt.
Falling is streaming on Netflix but is unavailable in Nigeria.
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Love Is War (2019)
Running time: 1h 51m
Director: Omoni Oboli
Genre: Political Drama
A husband (Richard Mofe-Damijo) and wife (Omoni Oboli), both ambitious, end up running against each other for the governorship of their state. This is a political drama that refuses to play it for laughs. Their campaigns bring mudslinging that exposes deep-seated societal misogyny and the brutal, corrupt machinery of Nigerian politics. This is all the viewers see before the couple eventually kisses and makes up for the greater good of their family. The movie leaves viewers stressed rather than swooning.
Love Is War is streaming on Netflix, but is unavailable in Nigeria.
Keeping Faith (2002)
Running time: 2h 30m
Director: Steve Gukas
Genre: Romance, Drama
In this movie, we see Nadine (Genevieve Nnaji) picking herself up after a heartbreak. In short order, she meets Princewill (Richard Mofe-Damijo) and begins scheming to lock down the wealthy, handsome man. Out of desperation, she takes her friends’ advice to give him a mind-altering love potion.
Although they find love together at the end, Nadine’s desperation to trap Princewill in a spiritually manipulated relationship is purely an obsession. And there’s nothing funny about that.
Watch Keeping Faith on YouTube.
Phone Swap (2012)
Running time: 1h 57m
Director: Kunle Afolayan
Genre: Family Drama, Comedy
Phone Swap is more of a coming-of-age movie, especially for Mary (Nse Ikpe-Etim), the female lead. One makes sense for the viewers to expect Mary and Akin (Wale Ojo), the male lead, to fall madly in love after their cute phone misunderstandings and an airport reunion. However, this turns out to be a fish-out-of-water family dramedy.
Along the way, Mary meets people who teach her how to come out of her shell and be more outspoken, while Akin has experiences that stop him from being such a self-centred and elitist douchebag.
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Up North (2018)
Running time: 1h 40m
Director: Tope Oshin
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Here, it’s way less about getting a girl. Up North is about Bassey (Bankole ‘Banky W’ Wellington), an heir to a wealthy family, as he strips away his entitlement. Sure, he finds love with Mariam (Rahama Sadau), but it’s second to the character development he gets from his friendship with Sadiq (Ibrahim Suleiman). In fact, they could have done away with the rain and subplots altogether.
This Lady Called Life (2020)
Running time: 2h
Director: Kayode Kasum
Genre: Drama
Aiyetide (Bisola Aiyeola) deals with scars of family abandonment and sexual assaults while trying to prove her worth as a chef and single mom. The presence of Obinna (Efa Iwara), a supportive man helping a struggling woman achieve her culinary dream, mimics the comforting, predictable style of a rom-com. But it’s not it. This movie is a comedic drama that unpacks trauma, survival and resilience.
The romantic subplot is beautifully executed, but it serves only as a compensation for her gruelling journey of self-actualisation and healing.
Watch This Lady Called Life on MUBI.
Kasanova (2019)
Running time: 1h 55m
Director: Oluseyi ‘Asurf’ Amuwa
Genre: Family Drama
This movie title literally translates to a chronic womaniser and that perhaps makes you think there’s a romcom here, but let’s look deeper. Femi (Wale Ojo), a smooth-talking womaniser, falls for Jessica (Iteti Doyle), the strict mother of his son’s love interest. Beneath their banters and romantic tropes, the movie spends significant time unpacking single parenthood, the trauma of losing a spouse, and the complicated, often messy drama of merging families.
This is a family drama about emotional baggage that uses a romcom as nothing more than a Trojan horse.
Kasanova is streaming on YouTube but is unavailable in Nigeria.
Tango With Me (2010)
Running time: 1h 13m
Director: Mahmood Ali-Balogun
Genre: Drama, Family
Seeing Genevieve Nnaji and Joseph Benjamin, two of Nollywood’s most bankable romantic leads at a time, together in a poster signals a sweet romance. However, Tango With Me is far from that. It’s a drama focused on severe trauma and the fragility of faith.
The movie begins with the bride being raped in their hotel room on their wedding night. This sets off a harrowing look into PTSD and marital breakdown. This is a movie about a couple drowning in the aftermath of a deep tragedy. Nothing comedic here.
Tango With Me is streaming on Netflix but is unavailable in Nigeria.
Two Weeks In Lagos (2019)
Running time: 1h 57m
Director: Kathryn Fasegha
Genre: Drama, Romance
This title suggests a breezy holiday romance, but it almost feels like one, only to turn into a story about the elite. Ejikeme (Mawuli Gavor) returns from the US and falls for Lola (Beverly Naya) despite being promised to another. The romance gets overshadowed by the themes of political manoeuvring and classism. Viewers learn more about the transactional nature of wealthy families than romance.
The lovers, Ejikeme and Lola, interact with the same intensity as two remote coworkers meeting for the first time at a company-mandated retreat. It’s wildly uninteresting and lacking heat.
Watch 2 Weeks In Lagos on Netflix.
