Written & directed by Niyi Akinmolayan, this family drama titled “My Mother is a Witch” is produced by Victoria Akujobi & Efe Irele (also starring as Jess/Imoetinyan). The film with a runtime of 1hour 47minutes which was hitherto released to cinemas is now currently available for streaming on Kava.
SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers)
Estranged from her mother (Mercy Aigbe) for years due to an age-long grudge, Imoetinyan ‘Jess’ Idahosa (Efe Irele), living and working in the United Kingdom with the British Vogue would receive news that her mother had sadly passed. To fulfil her mother’s last wish, Jess would have to travel back to Benin, Nigeria to perform the funeral rites only to be met with a rude awakening.
MY TAKE:
Now that’s one African storytelling to be proud of! 
From the originality of the songs, to the accents, to the aptness of the setting, to the stellar performances…the story, plot, makeup, location, costuming and the general cinematography, all worked together nicely. A well put together piece, I dare say!
STORY/PLOT:
Set in Manchester, UK and Benin City, Nigeria, this story of mother and daughter is a gripping and emotional one. The story which centres on traumatic experiences, grudges and how these could shape a person’s relationship with their loved ones also brings to light the silent sacrifices of a mother unbeknownst to the daughter. At the end of the day, it wraps up with reconciliation and forgiveness.
The 2-setting plot is brilliant as the approach to storytelling here works powerfully in bringing Imoetinyan’s story to the fore. Her switch of accent whilst with her Oyibo friend to the one when she’s with her own people is superbly natural. It didn’t feel forced or faked. Now, that’s the thing with language.
CASTING/PERFORMANCE:
While I have my reservation about the casting of Timini Egbuson for the role of Dr. Ayo, his delivery notwithstanding, I do feel he was somewhat holding back, seemingly detached. Feels like a miscasting. (I may be wrong). No disrespect to anyone by the way!
The rest of the cast however was a brilliantly natural mix. A little editing or camera angle trick would have helped with the little boy (whom I kept believing had an integral role in the story and I was eventually right).
Efe Irele and Mercy Aigbe here lived up to expectations as per how they embodied their characters. Efe, a resentment-filled daughter and Mercy – a regret-consumed sick mother. Ah! What a wholesome blend! The most powerful scenes and performances were the ones where Imo & her mum were having squabbles. Those felt too real. I do hope there were no injuries sustained in the course of those displays of rage in those scenes.
DIRECTION/EXECUTION:
This has successfully made it to the top of my list of favourite Nollywood films for 2025. I won’t be surprised if it bags awards to be honest. That’ll be well deserved. The sequencing of events proves the prowess of the director. The duration is precise. Anything more would have been too much.
A Nollywood movie to watch with kids. There were no cuss words nor explicit scenes. The stylish smoking by Imo when stressed could be explained to kids as a bad habit not to emulate. This is a story well executed with intrigue, suspense and captivating twists and turns. The use of flashbacks worked fine too.
TECHNICALITIES:
The beautiful Edo/Benin background music is amazing. It reminds me of the old classic “Pot of Life” which I watched as a teenager. The mention of black soup made me both smile and crave for some. Not sure why they mentioned a combo with starch instead of the legendary pounded yam though. Costume, hair, makeup, the rainfall, the iconic Bini beads, etc all worked well. The attention to details is commendable.
LESSONS:
You may never know what the next person is dealing with until they tell you. Imo’s mother made sacrifices which she didn’t want her daughter to know and she suffered for it.
Parents must learn to be patient with their children. A different approach would have saved Imo & her mother the heartbreak. African parents seem to bottle up too much and this doesn’t necessarily help the children in question.
What an elder sees sitting down, a child may not see even if they climb the highest iroko tree.
OBSERVATION/QUESTION:
1. One thing that worked best for me in this movie is how unpredictable it is. Loved the ending (not the usual). Loved the big reveal concerning Imo & Gabriel. But my question is, for how Gabriel turned out based on what we saw, does that exonerate Imo’s mother from what she did? Was she then right to have carried out such cruelty on Imo at the time?
2. Yet again a professional is playing a role where it sometimes appear like they have all the time in the world. I get it that doctors do have their personal lives but c’omon, let’s face it! They’re unarguably busy. We’re made to understand that Dr. Ayo is a doctor in the community health centre. Just how many other doctors does the shabby clinic have to avail this particular doctor that much time to be a chauffeur, a therapist as well as a counsellor?
3. So, I watched this on my phone on the Kava website. Was there a subtitling for others? Mine wasn’t available. As a result, I couldn’t understand some things that were said. It’s possible it’s just me though.
4. THE TITLE: The title is quite intriguing but to me, it could have been put differently instead. Something like “AZÉN” which in Bini translates to ‘WITCH’ with a possible subtitle would have been more preferable in my opinion. This would have just been the cherry on top of the cake for such a powerful African story.
5. Was it just the bead business that mama Imo used in training her daughter till it became too competitive and could no longer keep up? Did she combine it with some other businesses like sales of farm produces, no? Wow! I didn’t know bead business was that lucrative back in the day. I thought you’d have to combine multiple streams of income.
6. What was Dr. Ayo’s involvement in the family matter? I kept asking why he was so invested in them believing there was a backstory to this but no.
CONCLUSION:
This was absolutely worth the watch. Such beautiful storytelling, it was relatable, engaging, compelling, interesting and entertaining. Enjoyed watching this and would even recommend it to my enemies to watch. Kudos to all involved in this project.
VERDICT: 7/10
Have you seen this? What did you think?
