After 30 review
The film, After 30, has just been released on Amazon Prime Video. It is the sequel to the series by Nemsia Studios, Before 30, which was released about ten years ago. It follows the story of four Nigerian women navigating different life issues including family, faith, friendship and career. The film features Damilola Adegbite, Beverly Naya, Anee Icha, Meg Otanwa, and OC Ukeje, amongst others.
I wasn’t going to share a review on this film because well…it wasn’t as good as the first one and generally feels like the story didn’t evolve with its viewers who were ten years younger when the show was released. My main ick is why is Temi making the same mistake, she didn’t learn her lesson the first time? Why did they have to ruin good, healthy female friendships for us? Why is there an underdeveloped LGBTQ vs religion trope?
They tried to portray women living on their own terms but were they actually?
The fashion and beauty was on point though. It seemed like that was their main focus and they forgot to tighten the story. I just need a list of all the designers and hair vendors for that project (someone hand me Nkem’s wig 😍). The opening sequence was also pretty cool.
So instead of writing a full review myself, I asked the opinions of people in our Love Nollywood WhatsApp group so here goes.
Lade
“Yeah…this movie missed a lot of good opportunities to be a great movie.
I wanted more…
Why couldn’t Aisha tell her husband about not wanting more kids…a missed opportunity to explore the dynamics of that marriage and to highlight that in some marriages the responsibilities of having children and raising them is not always equal and it’s often the woman that is making a lot of sacrifice.
Nkem…story line…a missed opportunity to really explore the real emotions behind her impulsivity and the sudden desire to become a mother.
The LGBTQ+ storyline is a poor attempt to keep up with the times/trends in society. If you are going to do an LGBTQ+ storyline with a religious angle..DO IT WITH YOUR FULL CHEST!! GO THERE IF YOU ARE GOING TO GO THERE!! another. missed opportunity.
Temi’s storyline was okay. A missed opportunity to really flesh out why she would choose Ayo (instability) over the Kunle (stable and almost perfect)… a missed opportunity to really explore why she keeps self sabotaging, especially since this is the second time (or third) we are seeing her doing this.
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Personally, I would have done this movie in therapy session style… maybe have each lady in therapy exploring their own individual trauma responses and telling their stories that way. I think that is what the writers were trying to do with the whole fight or flight theory, but it just didn’t land”.
Rachel
“Temi gosh. People can believe in this soul mate rubbish all they want but someone being a soul mate is not enough. It’s also about how they treat you. This man claims to be your soul mate but he never checks for you. Only when he sees you happy does he come back doing the most — that’s not love that’s TOXIC!
It’s soooo sad because this is the reality in so many marriages and relationships People stay because they believe in this “soul mate” bond but the man doesn’t even treat them well.
Men like Kunle are extremely rare. When she told him she had cheated, he handled it like a champ. Most men (and women) would’ve blown up and walked away, but the level of maturity he showed is exactly the kind of emotional stability I need in my life right now.
Aishaaaaa…She blew my mind. I literally don’t even know where to start with her. They really portrayed her in such a bad way to be honest. It came across like the only reason she didn’t want to have another baby was because her husband wasn’t helping around the house. Meanwhile, the reality is that she was traumatised by the idea of getting pregnant and giving birth again, which is totally valid. Her whole experience was downplayed, making her seem lazy and unserious, and I didn’t like this.
Again this is why you must marry your person Someone who sees you, who listens, and who can pick up on the unspoken. She was clearly not okay and instead of checking in with her he was consumed with his obsession over having more kids; not just one but a whole bunch of them.
I have to admit though, she was wrong for getting her tubes tied without her husband’s consent. She should have had that conversation with him first. That was major and it needed communication. But if after that talk he still wasn’t on the same page or didn’t offer her support then absolutely she had every right to leave. Again marry your friend!
I was shocked that when he found out about her procedure, he called his mother, and then used his wealth and influence to take her away from her child. Disgusting behavior and a serious abuse of power, especially towards your wife whom you claim to love, and the mother of your child!
NKEM — hurt.confused.absolute rubbish!
Now let’s be clear Aisha was wrong for the whole adoption thing. She had no right to keep the child away from Nkem. She went about it in the wrong way and was clearly projecting her own issues onto Nkem.
However Nkem, you do not repeat your friend’s secret, especially not in public. This right here is why so many women have trust issues. People genuinely don’t know who they can talk to anymore. It’s heartbreaking that you can’t even confide in a close friend without fearing that one day she might expose you. And this wasn’t just any secret, it was something that could completely destroy her best friend’s marriage. I’m sorry but I don’t see how they come back from this. Nkem’s storyline was a no for me!
I’m not even going to get into the church scene. What exactly were they trying to portray again? No words.
Tito
“I saw it as Ama got some kind of nurture and affection from Alice that she would have rather received from a man but seeing as men weren’t forthcoming she decided to ‘explore’ with Alice and I wondered how many women today find themselves in that same situation”. Watch a more extensive review on Tito’s page here.
It’s safe to say that After 30 was a 4/10. The extra one is because the director mentioned that it was meant to be a series but ended up being a film so they had to cut a lot out. Meh!
The film is available to watch on Prime Video and you can view the trailer here:
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