Picture This review – Bridgerton star can’t save tinny romcom

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Simone Ashley tries her best in Amazon’s gimmicky romantic comedy but it’s too flimsy and forgettable to demand our attention I am generally wary of streaming platform originals, so often do they feel like the fast fashion of the film world: cheap, disposable, chasing ephemeral interests and brittle with repeat use. But I will give Netflix, Amazon and co props for this: for nearing a decade now, they have attempted to fill a void left by the theatrical box office, whose hollowed-out market rarely supports the mid-budget adult films – particularly romcoms and erotic thrillers – that routinely entertained non-franchise audiences in decades past. Only occasionally do they succeed, as in the case of Netflix’s Do Revenge or Players , but the mission remains worthwhile. Picture This, a new romcom from Amazon Prime Video, has promising elements suggesting it could be one of the better entries. Namely: the presence of Simone Ashley, the always luminous breakout star of the Netflix confectio...
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Mami Wata review – arresting, stripped-down Nigerian parable of of water and power

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Discontent stirs in a village that has rejected modern life to follow a faith healer said to be the representative of the title’s water spirit

This visually beautiful and charismatically acted film is a fierce expressionist reverie or parable of power, shot in a lustrous, high-contrast black-and-white by cinematographer Lílis Soares. It is the work of Nigerian director CJ “Fiery” Obasi, whose nickname makes an interesting elemental contrast to his movie’s watery theme. His storytelling urgency and stripped-down minimalism reminded me at various stages of George Orwell and Julie Dash.

We are in a west African village called Iyi, which has ignored the modern world of science and technology in favour of worshipping the traditional water spirit Mami Wata, through her intermediary and representative on Earth, faith-healer Mama Efe (Rita Edochie), to whom tributes of food and money must be paid. But Efe’s daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) is furious with her when she appears unwilling or unable to cure a local child, and there are rumblings of dissatisfaction with her power. Mama Efe’s other daughter Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen) is less critical; she is adopted, and is grateful to Efe for saving her from penury and death.

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