Yemi Morafa’s “The Party” Gives The Whodunnit Genre A Half-chance

The Party, a three-episode Netflix series produced by Judith Audu and directed by Yemi “Filmboy” Morafa, begins with a house party scene where the dying Akinbobola (Kunle Remi), also called Bobo, drops off a balcony into the pool. The struggle to revive him is futile, and the father of the deceased immediately invites the police to investigate his death. This raucous opening forms the foundation of the suspenseful plot that is driven towards finding out who the murderer is. The detectives—Olaitan Moshood (Yomi Fash-Lanso), Etim Caleb (Kelechi Udegbe), and Habiba (Eva Ibiam)—follow clues and interrogate the party guests, their curiosity creating moments that require the suspects to establish their relationships and recall memories with the deceased. Using flashback as a technique, the film invites the audience to experience the personality and affairs of Bobo, revealing his strengths and weaknesses.

In embodying his role, Kunle Remi infects the character of Bobo with an inscrutable demeanour, an asset that is noticeable in previous characters of his—for example, Saro in the Anikulapo franchise. Bobo in The Party is an intelligent, tranquil, carefree and sociable young man with an equally thriving career; but he is also mischievous and treacherous for cheating on his wife Motunrayo, having a sexual relationship with a friend’s romantic partner, and impregnating a neighbour’s daughter. There are commendable acting performances from Femi Branch who portrays the quarrelsome neighbor Quadri Borokini, Kehinde Bankole who infuses a characteristic sense of grit and discipline in her character Motunrayo, and Shaffy Bello in her emotional embodiment of the deceased’s mother Chief Mrs Balogun.

The whodunnit is a subgenre of crime drama that involves investigating and solving a murder case. In a whodunnit story, the audience is typically given clues, suspects and red herrings, which they can put together to draw inferences and discover the perpetrator. Eventually, at the end of the story, the identity of the culprit is revealed in the most surprising and satisfying manner. All these features are present in The Party. The suspects in the series are family members and friends of the deceased, with red herrings woven in the plot to divert the attention of the audience. Motunrayo is arrested and falsely accused of murdering her husband for cheating on her. John-Paul (Uzor Arukwe) is thought to have pushed Bobo to his death for betrayal of trust. The side talks between the Baloguns and Moshood provide misleading clues that later unearth the story of Chief Balogun’s (Bimbo Manuel) secret family. Then, the audience are almost convinced that Chief Balogun killed his son because of their disagreement.

Although Nollywood has a history of crime drama productions, from the era of home video (Issakaba, State of Emergency, etc.) to new cinema (King of Boys, Shanty Town, Gangs of Lagos, Tokunbo, The Black Book, etc.), the whodunnit is marginalized. Earlier this year, we had Katangari Goes To School, a Prime Video whodunnit thriller film directed by Reuben Reng, with Segun Arinze starring in the lead role of Katangari, a retired police inspector that uses wit, humor and resourcefulness to solve crimes in his community. The film shows potential but also lacks the grace of intrigue and intensity, often short-changing the audience, with its principal investigator’s strategies coming off as drab. In comparison, The Party feels better structured and takes its red herrings a bit more seriously. A few times, perhaps, the “seriousness” is far-reaching and degenerative. Moshood’s professionalism comes down to laughable phoniness when he hastily and unduly attempts to influence the judgement of his junior colleagues. Here, the series misses out on subtler ways to prove the senior officer’s compromised integrity and more effectively mirror the reality of Nigeria’s flawed criminal justice system.

The final act of The Party deals a deathblow to what could have been a fairly taut plot. While we already know about Chief Balogun’s marital quagmire and secret family, the exposé happens in a rush that renders the secret wife, Mrs Sanusi (Mide Martins), an insufficiently developed character. There are signs, followed by a visual revelation, that a workplace colleague is responsible for Bobo’s death. Yet the filmmaker does not follow up on this, with the culprit at large and his motive, unknown, reduced to mere speculations.