One thing that should happen more often is giving newcomers their flowers when they’re due. In film, it could be a director, a producer, or an overall festival favorite. There’s no better feeling than spotting a well-crafted project before it peaks on its upward trajectory. A good example from last year’s slate of films is Past Lives, which was a directorial debut for Celine Song. The film was so good, that she’s an Oscar finalist for Best Director which will be announced on Sunday, March 10. In that same manner, there’s a film out of Nigeria, Hotel Labamba, that serves as the debut production for Lady Laide Films. Standing with six awards under its belt, it’s crass, indiscriminate, and downright hilarious. In short, everything a murder-mystery-comedy should be.
It’s a whodunnit to outdo them all. Think Murder on the Orient Express sans the highbrow humor. Instead, prepare for one hour and 26 minutes of West African shenanigans of the highest order.
Directed by Biodun Stephen, Hotel Labamba is the site of a murder and a small cluster of guests find themselves in the middle of the investigation. With varying sets of personalities and backgrounds, both guests and hotel staff are seen as suspects in this hilarious and eccentric murder mystery.
Nollywood (a play on “Hollywood”) refers to the Nigerian film industry. Nollywood films can cover a variety of genres but one detail reigns supreme: melodramatic characters. Whether a husband is out with his wife’s best friend, a corrupt pastor is called out by locals, or religion is used to rectify a discrepancy, if it’s Nollywood, it’s going to be over the top. The characters in this festival darling are no different. A very flashy and boisterous Instagram influencer named Big Berry (Lateef Adedimeji) is a guest at the hotel along with his girl, Ella (Lilian Afegbai), another influencer who’s equally loud and dramatic. Their over-the-top antics can only be topped by Detective Ofure (Blessing Jessica Obasi-Nze) who is hilarious. If you could imagine getting interrogated by an officer half your size while getting trolled, roasted, and even physically threatened. Her mere presence would signal that comedy would soon follow.
The film boasts a vast trove of Nollywood talent on top of the aforementioned Adedimeji, Afegbai, and Obasi-Nze. There’s also Bimbo Ademoye, Bolaji Ogunmola, Femi Adebayo, Etinosa Idemudia, and more. If that wasn’t enough, this feature flick even has an amazing soundtrack which you can check out below.
For this to be a first from Lady Laide Films, is impressive, to say the least. Their debut film has already amassed six awards across three different film festivals:
Global Film Festival Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Trailer, Best Director, and Best Ensemble Cast
Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival: Best Comedy Feature Film
Motion Pictures International Film Festival: Fiction Feature Film
Hotel Labamba has consistently seen the top of the Prime Video streaming chart since its VOD debut two weeks ago. It’s been No. 1 in Nigeria and also a fan favorite in Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, and Georgia.
Hotel Labamba gets an 8.5 out of 10. It’s a hilarious whodunnit that I think can make waves outside of the Nollywoodscape. Its humor and language are geared towards adults so don’t mistake this for a family film. It would help if you turn the captions on as the actors seamlessly weave through around seven different languages. Fans of the film can look forward to more from Lady Laide Films as I can tell you exclusively, that their next film, Aso Ebi Diaries, will be in production throughout March.
Hotel Labamba is available to stream only on Prime Video
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Lady Laide Films