This is definitely an independent film with a low budget. The acting, direction, script, and music were uneven, and the pacing felt rather quick to me; I glanced at the clock about halfway through and was surprised at how much had happened by that point.
However, this wasn't guerilla filmmaking, Adaora Nwandu seemed intent on making the best film she could and it came across to me as very much a passion project. I liked the effort she made enough that I've looked into what else she's done, and could see her skill improving with each work (I'm probably too culturally naïve to get everything in it, but I enjoyed "The Venician"). Overall, I thought this was a good film that showed her potential. I remained engaged to the end, I've seen it twice so far and I'll probably watch it again sometime.
What bothered me, and the main reason I settled on a median rating, was how the story was told. Significant information was vague or left out, and the action jumped around between several extra characters, so I sometimes had trouble following what was happening and who was who. The worst for me was the Nigerian aspects. Beyond being unfamiliar with Nigeria and its relationship with the UK, even with closed captions to help understand the dialogue at times (and subtitles using the same font as the credits, which was confusing), I had no idea who Tagbo was working for and what kind of work it entailed, or why Tagbo and Raymond were sent to Nigeria. All I could tell was that it was supposed to be shady. It didn't even need to be defined, just less ambiguous than "not drugs."
Same with the man Tag and Rag stayed with, and the man's friend. It was supposed to be Tag's uncle, his father's twin, who I'm pretty sure was having a clandestine affair with another man, but it would've worked so much better if Geoffrey Aymer had played both Tag's father and uncle so that we'd see that they were twins, the hidden relationship wasn't so subtle if it existed, and Nigeria's historic nonacceptance of homosexuality was more apparent so we'd have a better understanding of the underlying tension. Loved getting to see the country though, including the brief glimpses during the end credits.
The other part of that is how cluttered the story was. Several ideas were presented but not explored very much, which I think is why the pacing felt so rushed and choppy at times. Tagbo and Raymond were dealing with an ignored romance on top of issues with their parents, their significant others, their friends, their job prospects, and their trip to Nigeria. They both had a lot to sort out in their lives -- which is realistic, we all do, but that doesn't work as well when telling a story. Some of those plot elements needed to be trimmed or pruned away in order to reveal more of the story's essence. I also kept noticing the recurring theme of "they're not like us," but it was only ever mentioned and not the focal point it could have been.
I was a bit disappointed with the character of Tagbo's father too. He was suitable as an antagonist overall, although I didn't get why he wouldn't kick out his gay son, unless it was intended to show his continued attempts to exert control. Mainly I didn't like that he was basically relegated to intolerant villain by the end.
Despite their immature and hypocritical personalities, I'd become quite enamored with Raymond and Tagbo when they reached their pat happy ending. While this is the sort of film I wouldn't mind seeing remade with a more generous budget and more careful direction, frankly I don't know that I could see anyone else playing those characters.
There are a lot of ways that this film could be made better, and as another review mentions, closed captions may be necessary, but if you're okay with the lower production values it's not a bad love story.
