okay nigerian movie: FINE LETTERS

First thoughts 

Yo! I did not see that plot twist coming. 

The Cast and Crew

Maurice Sam as Tolu
Uche Montana as Miwa
Chike Daniels as Clinton
Oscar Nwabaju as Doctor Oswald
Precious Akaeze as Chetachi
Michelle Faro as Young Miwa
Christian Effiong as Bayo

Written by Ojakorotu Promis Ofejiro
Produced by Uche Montana, Uchenna Mbunabo
Directed by Chidi Anyanwu Chidox

Full Story

Miwa Osunde (I don’t understand why a Yoruba character is bearing an Edo surname but whatever. Maybe the dad is Edo, who knows).

Let’s start all over. FINE LETTERS is a movie about Miwa Osunde and a neighbour (Tolu) of hers she develops a strong crush on. 

At first, she is not interested in making the first move but eventually, she does. She starts subtly by buying him gifts and dropping them on his doorstep – anonymously. Then an opportunity presents itself and she gives him a lift when his car breaks down. 

While giving him a lift, she suggests that they have dinner at her place. Slowly they get closer and then Tolu falls sick. Miwa visits him and writes him a prescription. 

Tolu hands it over to his cousin, Clinton who then notices the similarity between Miwa’s handwriting and the handwriting in the notes from the secret admirer. 

Together with Miwa’s friend Chetachi, Tolu plans a nice dinner where he finally makes it known to Miwa that he likes her too – that is – the feeling is mutual.

He does, and they start dating but Miwa asks for celibacy in the relationship. Tolu doesn’t mind, he loves her too much to let sex get in the way. 

Then one day, the day Tolu and Miwa planned to go on vacation, he goes to pick her up from the hospital – she’s a doctor. 

He gets there and he notices that Miwa’s heartbeat is faster than usual. She hugs him. While hugging him, she brings out a syringe filled with what I would think is an anaesthetic and injects him. 

Tolu falls to the ground and is immediately prepped for surgery by Miwa and Dr. Oswald. 

Back story on Oswald. He is Miwa’s colleague who likes her a lot and has been asking her out but she has refused. Nevertheless, he is ready and willing to do anything to please her and in this case, it is murder. 

You see, Miwa wants to harvest Tolu’s kidney. We don’t know why but she just wants to and she had Oswald do it. Well, he was supposed to but she couldn’t stomach it and Oswald just gave up. 

He also asks for a transfer as he realises that his love for Miwa is making him do unethical things. 

Miwa returns Tolu home and from then on, ices him out. Tolu is confused and tries to get answers but Miwa doesn’t tell him. 

That is until he sneaks into her home and Miwa finally lets him know the truth. 

Over a decade ago, Miwa’s older brother, Bayo was taken to the city by a woman. That woman was Tolu’s mother. Bayo lived as their houseboy for about a year until Tolu fell sick and needed a kidney. 

Without parental consent or even Bayo fully understanding the weight of the situation, one of his kidneys was stolen from him and given to Tolu. Sadly, Bayo was neither stitched back together well nor was he given the proper post-op care.

Bayo was returned to his mother in the village while Tolu’s parents relocated the family abroad. Bayo died some weeks later and years later, his mother, Miwa’s mother died of depression and grief.

On hearing this Tolu is devestated. He begs for forgiveness but Miwa refuses to forgive. She doesn’t care. She only wished she had the guts to go through with her plan. 

Tolu becomes a shell of himself. Nothing motivates him anymore and in his depression, he slits his wrists in hopes to end it all. 

Clinton finds him and rushes him to the hospital. The same hospital Miwa works at. At first, she refuses to treat him but after the nurse begs her, she does. 

After the surgery, Miwa finds out how much of an amazing person Tolu is. His pro-bono work as a lawyer gave the nurse justice and so many more. 

Knowing that the man who had her brother’s kidney was doing good with it made her happy and she forgave him. 

In the end, Tolu asks for Miwa’s forgiveness one last time and she does indeed forgive him. They hug. 

Rating out of 10

I give it 💝💝💝💝💝

Two things I liked about this movie: the plot twist – it was plot twisting – and the end. I liked that it was open-ended, leaving room for whatever interpretation the viewer may have.