Netflix's Tòkunbò is an Artfully Executed Nigerian Thriller

The decision to keep the characters self-conflicting and unpredictable is an essential part of what makes the story a great sell, leading viewers into a world where nothing is quite what it seems and the demarcation between good and evil is solely dependent on who has the most power.

Before directing the film, Ramsey Nouah had been approached by producer Chris Odeh (Nneka The Pretty Serpent, Dinner) to star in the film, initially titled Lazarus. But Nouah was drawn to the vision and wanted to direct the film instead.Even though the characters in Tòkunbò find their lives intertwined in unlikely ways — a CBN governor at the mercy of an unknown kidnapper, an ex-smuggler who agrees to kidnap someone else’s child to save the life of his own — Nouah says it was important to show their backstories, further upping the stake viewers have in their lives. “To play around that, we needed to tell each of their backstories so we could play it along with the intrigue and the suspense. That’s how we were able to create that arc.”

A gift

For Gideon Okeke, Tòkunbò is the film he has been waiting for, despite the challenges of embodying a troubled character whose life is jammed with societal limitations. “I’ve played the lead in several films, but on this particular film, I realized that playing the lead is not just your acting prowess but also your physicality through the process,” he says. “It was like a mental and physical gym, all of this from the perspective of a man who doesn’t have work. This [role] was a gift.”

From Tòkunbò the character, Okeke says he is approaching his work with sharper teeth, emboldened now to push past his limits. In preparing for this role, Okeke came unprepared, choosing instead to find preparation in the chaos. “It’s like a surfer or someone who dives into the ocean from the seashore, you use the waves as they come to you. So there was a lot I could take from life that this guy was going through in the black and white. There was a lot I could pull from life and I'll be cheeky to say that it was easy to perform in that sense, but yeah, I had some material from life that was poignant.”

On directing Okeke, Nouah shares that the actor came with his A-game. “He came with all his heart for the project and that made the job easy for me. I wasn’t doing much to get the most out of him; he loved the character from the beginning, he enjoyed the story, and he believed in me somewhat, so even when I complained about things I didn’t like, he would reassure me.”

Technically ambitious

To achieve the brilliant car races and the (likely soon to be famous) drowning scene, Nouah consulted with actual stunt drivers and worked with them to produce vehicles capable of executing such tasking stunts. “I didn't realize what it took to shoot some of these action sequences,” he admits. “So I got burned somewhere along the line in the process, but I've learned my lesson.”

While Tòkunbò should be praised for its heart-pumping scenes, its most brilliant feature is in the quiet moments that see Tòkunbò sitting and thinking, his mind stuck in an unreachable place, even as life continues to move on around him. Okeke credits these moments to Nouah’s fastidious directing. “From Mr. Ramsey, I learned a lot about stillness in front of the camera, because the camera is reading every piece of information, and every twitch, every facial expression [conveys] a different information.”

Okeke hopes that people see a part of themselves in Tòkunbò, and that it inspires global conversations. “I hope that this becomes a pin on the map that Nollywood is fresh and there’s something new coming.”