Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
"Mami Wata" is a story about when the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land. C. J. 'Fiery' Obasi clearly takes influence from several art-house filmmakers and presenting a story with African culture, language, and art. Obasi does succeed with presenting a slow-burn but beautiful and poetically type of narrative.
The main story feels simple but the direction, gorgeous soundtrack, camerawork and costumes helped to make the film interesting and beautifully constructed. Several soundtrack and camerawork moments remained something of David Lynch or Alexander Kluge. The performances from the cast members are a little strange as there were some great perofrmances but there were some that felt a little strange but I am not sure if they were bad or it was intentional to perform that way.
There are some problems as the pacing does drag and the narrative did take a little too long to get to the point but once it does, the film doesn't get boring. Nigerian cinema isn't something I have seen all the time but after seeing this and "Eyimofe", I look forward to see moe art-house films from Nigeria.
Overall, this was pretty good despite it's flaws. Great costumes and beautiful soundtrack
Rating: B.
