Famous in his home country for making films such as Last Flight To Abuja (2012), The Mirror Boy (2011) and Onve Ozi (2013) it’s safe to say that Nigerian filmmaker Obi-Emeloyne’s name isn’t as nearly well known here in the UK as it is in his home country. Aiming to change that Emeloyne’s latest film, Black Mail, which as well as directing he also produced and wrote, is getting a pretty wide UK cinema release.
Chinda (OC Ukeje), a famous actor based in London, receives an email from a Russian gang telling him that they have hacked his computer and they have compromising footage of him masturbating to porn. Knowing that someone has hacked his computer he then bizarrely goes and masturbates to porn on his computer and actually gives the criminals, led by a Russian computer whiz called Igor (Nikolay Shulik) who needs the money to get treatment for his sick child, the footage that turns out they never had in the first place.
Looking for help and unable to confide in his wife (Julia Holden), the couple are on the verge of breaking up so a disclosure that he’s been blackmailed might not go down well, Chinda turns to his manger and friend Ruben (Alessandro Babalola) for help.
Ditching the police Chinda and Ruben then take it on themselves to track down the blackmailers before they can release Chinda’s finest moment onto the internet.
Black Mail is the type of low budget action thriller that you would normally expect to see going straight to DVD, the acting from some of the supporting cast leaves a lot to be desired, but thanks to it being elevated to a cinema release Obi-Emeloyn’s film is more accessible to a wider audience. Whether you enjoy it or not will more than likely depend if you have a liking for low budget dramas and Emeloyn’s unique style of film making.
