Christmas in Lagos is a movie about love, family, and the importance of being together during the holidays. It tries to show both the happiness and struggles that come with family relationships, writes Benedicta Azakaye.
Each character has their own story, which should make the movie more interesting but somehow doesn’t quite succeed, despite the film aiming to feel warm and heartfelt.
The main character, Fiyin (played by Teniola Aladese), is figuring out love and who she really is. She’s strong and determined, but her belief that her best friend, Elo (Shalom C. Obiago), is meant to be her soulmate doesn’t make much sense.
They were never in a relationship, they never talked about having feelings for each other, and she had just got out of a five-year relationship so why would she expect a proposal from him? On top of that, she didn’t even know he had been dating someone else for eight months, which makes their so-called deep friendship seem weak.
The story itself isn’t very engaging. It doesn’t have big emotional moments or scenes that stick with you. Some ideas could have made the film stronger, but they were barely explored before being dropped.
For example, there’s a scene where Elo stares at Fiyin, as if the movie wants us to wonder if he secretly loves her. But the way it’s done feels empty, there’s no real emotion in his eyes, so the moment doesn’t work
Then there’s Elo’s relationship with Yagazie. The movie says they connected because they both went through difficult times and helped each other heal. That’s nice, but it feels more like a friendship formed in a support group than a real romance.
In the end, the film struggles to build strong relationships between its characters, making the whole story feel flat and forgettable.
