Recall is a Nollywood Supernatural drama that was released in cinemas in Nigeria on April 4th, 2025. Written and Directed by Kunle Afolayan, it has a runtime of 1 hour and 58 minutes. It was first premiered at the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in 2024.
The movie follows successful couple Goke and Anita, whose marital bliss is shredded with Anita’s sudden bout of memory loss.
Premise
The movie starts off by introducing us to Goke, Anita and their kids; a loving, well-to-do family in the suburbs of Lagos, throwing a lavish party to celebrate Goke and Anita’s 10th wedding anniversary.
It is noticed right away that while Anita is extremely beautiful, Goke is less than conventionally attractive. However, he is a happy man, and he cherishes his family dearly. We are also introduced to Anita’s best friend, Miriam, and her husband, Jimoh. And Anita’s parents; Mr. and Mrs. Bassey.
Anita’s mother, who is extremely superstitious, expresses slight discomfort at such an extravagant party, citing concern over such a blatant display of the couple’s wealth and love. But Anita soothes her, maintaining that there is nothing to worry about.
A few days later, Anita experiences sudden and debilitating migraines, painful to the point of her screaming for help. Goke attempts to come to her rescue, but is furiously repelled by her. Eventually she passes out and Goke rushes her to the hospital.
After conducting multiple tests, the doctors inform Goke that there is nothing physically wrong with Anita, despite the fact that she is still unresponsive. He panics at home, slightly taking it out on the kids, but then he apologizes. Then he called Miriam to watch the kids while he went to visit Anita again.
At this point, Anita has woken up, seemingly tired and disoriented. However, she screams and backs away from Goke and the kids whenever they attempt to get close. Confused, Goke has a private meeting with the doctor, where she reveals that Anita suffers from a mysterious strain of amnesia that caused her to lose the last 10 years of her life, including her marriage and kids. However, multiple tests reveal that there is still nothing wrong, medically.
Goke is thrown into despair, trying to find a way to send her abroad for further treatment, but the doctor suggests that Anita be taken home to her parents, as they are the only ones she remembers.
Goke and Anita’s mother begin to work tirelessly in their own respective ways to find the cause and solution of the situation while still simultaneously raising the kids, with her mother believing that this is a supernatural attack due to jealousy over the family’s success and love, citing the anniversary party as the catalyst.
While she seeks spiritual guidance, elsewhere, Miriam and Jimoh discuss Anita and Goke’s marriage, with Miriam pointing out some inconsistencies in said marriage; starting off with the fact that Goke isn’t “Anita’s type”, and the fact that Anita was already in a happy relationship but suddenly became desperate to love and marry Goke. And Miriam reveals that she is oddly suspicious of the fact that Anita only lost memories that have anything to do with her marriage.
Life goes on like this, until a bombshell secret is dropped, leading to a cycle of emotions that span the rest of the film; Anger, betrayal, tragedy, and true love, as the entire family deals with Anita’s condition and learns the true nature of her marriage.
Cast and Performances
Recall features an interesting mix of new generation superstars and old Nollywood royalty. With performances by:
- Sharon Ooja as Anita
- Rotimi Fakunle as Goke
- Bolaji Ogunmola as Miriam
- Jimmy Jean-Louis as D’jimoh
- Keppy Ekpenyong as Mr. Bassey (Anita’s father)
- Tina Mba as Mrs. Bassey (Anita’s mother)
- Bimbo Akintola as Aunty Ebun (Goke’s relative)
Also Cameo performances by Patience Ozokwor, Shan George, Idowu Phillips and Muyiwa Ademola.
The acting in this movie was pretty average. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s in the sense that while each performance was fairly okay, there was nothing that really stood out to me… except the kids though. It was like they were given a completely different script, acting their all and then some. Kudos to a couple of 8 – 12 year olds for being the best actors in this movie.
Sharon’s performance as Anita was pretty mediocre, which is odd because she’s usually a good match in other films. And honestly the real stars of the show were Tina Mba, and Rotimi Fakunle, who gave me the right amount of emotion required for their characters.
Speaking of the characters, my favourite is easily Goke. He’s simply a man who’s trying to do his best for his family, even though he doesn’t have it all figured out. One can’t help but feel sympathetic and even protective of him as he deals with seemingly the entire universe being against him. His love for his family is truly inspiring, and he proves time and time again that he would do anything for them. A second favourite of mine is Miriam, and I can’t say why without exposing spoilers, but it needs to be said that I admire her character.
What I liked about the film
Not Much. There isn’t anything that really stood out to me. Oh, the soundtrack though. The soundtrack was lovely. And it apparently follows the traditional Nollywood trend of having the soundtrack tailor made specifically for the film. A kudos to them, and a mild inconvenience for me (who nearly lost her mind in the theatre trying and failing to find the songs on Spotify). I enjoyed Goke’s character for his devotion to his family but it pretty much ends there.
What I Didn’t Like
Where do I begin? First of all, the movie is way too long. It takes too long to get to the point and incorporates a lot of unnecessary scenes (there’s this one absolutely random scene where Goke is just playing with an obviously CGI butterfly, for no reason). By the way, 30% of this movie was just advertising and product placement. Like you can really tell who the sponsors of this movie are (there’s this one train station and train ride montage that is basically a commercial all on its own), and I suppose that’s sort of the point, but come on. Subtlety, people. Subtlety.
The dialogue was also awkward and disjointed to me (and no I’m not talking about the scenes that are solely in Yoruba without subtitles but that is a point), and some interactions just felt down right unnatural (Anita’s meltdowns…hmm..).
Final Thoughts
Overall, at surface level, I’d say the film was average at best. But if I were to hold it to the same standard that I’ve held previous movies I’ve reviewed, I’d say it was boring. I believe they were simply trying to drag out what was already a mediocre plot and ended up just winging it.
Rating
I rate Recall (2025): 2 out of 5.
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