Lizard

'he went to the temple of God & he chased out.. he cast out all those who changed money & who sold money in the temple of God'. Akinola Davies Jr's 'Lizard' (2020) gives me so much hope for him as a director. Davies shamelessly shows Nigeria in a different light, portraying Nigerians wearing more native clothes, speaking their respected languages, & also showing a more realistic area of Lagos instead of filming somewhere that could somewhat be perceived as western Europe or the U.S. he also beautifully utilises facial expressions, shadows, & shapes to convey awe visually but also add to the overall believability to the story. i watched this short film in preparation for his first full-feature film 'My Fathers Shadow' that will be in Cymru (& the rest of the U.K.) on MUBI in 3 days (10th of April 2026). honestly, i'm sure that 'My Fathers Shadow' will be in my top 4 instead of either 'Touki Bouki' or 'La Haine'. [edit: i spoken to Akinola a few times on Instagram & i asked him for any chance i could get onto a set for some work experience just behind the scenes stuff and he ignored me, not saying he owes me anything but honestly my bias for the film has gone all the way down to 0]