Jolly Roger Review… the film left us with more questions than answers

Year: 2022
Genre:  Marriage, Crime, Thriller
Cast: Daniel Etim-Effiong, Deyemi Okanlawon, Toni Tones, Toyin Oshinaike, Frank Donga, Tina Mba
Director: Walter Taylaur
Writer: Tunde Apalowo
Cinematographer: Paul Gambit
Summary: When two police officers attempt to extract money from Brume, a banker, they have no idea what’s in store for them

Overall Rating: Water       
Jolly Roger really left us with more questions than answers. There was so much presented to us that we didn’t quite get the general goal of the story: We.were.confused.😞
~Yours To Explore~

Delicious
—We were so excited to see Paul Gambit handle the cinematography because he already does such a good job with music videos that there was no need to worry.
The actors and settings were properly framed and the lighting gave off a natural effect, especially during the night scenes
—We liked how diverse the storytelling was: the scenes juggled between the present (Brume’s confrontation with the police officers) and the past (Brume’s relationship with his wife).
We got to know more about Brume (Daniel Etim Effiong), his wife Najite (Toni Tones), his best friend (Deyemi Okanlawon), his mother (Tina Mba), as well as the police officers’ corrupt behavior

Bland
—The sound engineering was sadly bad, almost felt like there was a noise-removal effect
—Jolly Roger had many components that were not explained: When we were first introduced to Brume and Najite, they talked about a play of a madman cleaning up a city which later infuriated the people profiting from the filthiness.
Though Brume recalled this play toward the end of the movie, we had no idea what it represented. Ok, even if Brume was a picture of the madman, he wasn’t trying to “clean up” the city but rather achieve his personal aim.
Why did the film begin with 3 definitions of the word ‘roger’ when it only addressed one? Why was there a character wearing a gas mask as opposed to a regular one? Why was Brume’s living room all covered up in plastic? How did the infertility issue deepen the screenplay? Most importantly, what was the point of Brume passing out in the beginning?
All of these details left us confused about what the writer wanted to project through Jolly Roger…

Viewers’ Guide
LanguageViolence Intimacy

Trailer

Available on
(Audio: English, Pidgin English; English Subtitles: Yes)