Friday is here, and this weekend is a good one to stay in — or to go out to the cinema, depending on your mood. The biggest Nigerian film of the month finally goes nationwide, a wedding reality series everybody will be talking about lands on Netflix, and the biggest fantasy series on television drops four episodes at once. Here are the eight major drops worth your weekend, ranked.
1. Dear Ajayi — cinemas nationwide, Friday 13 November
The one to book a ticket for. Two estranged sisters, Ade and Titi Ajayi, are forced back under the same roof to look after their paralysed mother, and the old wounds come with them. It is a period drama set in 1990s southwestern Nigeria, directed by Damilola Orimogunje, and it arrives in cinemas with real weight behind it: it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won two awards, and it is Nigeria’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. This is the film to see on the big screen while you still can.
2. Stars and Vows: Anele & Buzza — Netflix, Friday 13 November
The wedding of the year, minus the invitation. South African media personality Anele Mdoda and her fiancé, Prince Bonelela “Buzza James” Mgudlwa, open up their road to the altar in a four-part reality series — the pre-wedding celebrations, the family pressure, the money, the logistics, and the question of who will actually show up. It is glossy, dramatic and built for group-chat debate. Watch the first episode before somebody spoils the ending for you.
3. Heartland — Netflix, Friday 13 November
Jessica Chastain as a former country music star who has been living in seclusion for twenty years — until her niece, a rising country singer, goes missing. She comes back to Nashville to find her, and the city does not welcome her kindly. A mystery thriller, not a music biopic, written and directed by Shana Feste. The one for a quiet Friday night in.
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, season 3 — Prime Video, from Wednesday 11 November
Four episodes landed on Wednesday, with two more coming on 18 November and the final two on 25 November. The story jumps five years forward, Middle-earth is at war, and Sauron is moving closer to forging the One Ring. If you have been waiting for a reason to catch up, this is the weekend to do it — the first four episodes are a proper binge on their own.
5. Jailer 2 — Prime Video, from Thursday 12 November
Rajinikanth is back as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian, the retired jailer pulled into a fresh fight with a criminal syndicate threatening his family. The sequel opened in cinemas on 15 October and became the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, and it is now streaming in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. Big, loud, and exactly what a Saturday night is for.
6. Loving Itohan — still showing in cinemas
It opened last Friday and it is still the romance to catch on the big screen. A love story set in the world of Lagos high society, with Nancy Isime and Uzor Arukwe leading a cast that has had cinemas talking all week. If you missed it on opening weekend, this is your second chance before the new releases crowd it out.
7. Daayra — Netflix, Friday 13 November
A crime drama with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran as two police officers on opposite sides of an investigation that keeps getting darker. Directed by Meghna Gulzar, it opened in cinemas in September and now comes home to streaming. The one for viewers who like their thrillers slow, tense and uncomfortable.
8. Love Is Blind: Habibi, season 2 — Netflix, from Thursday 12 November
The dating experiment returns, this time with singles from across the Arab world dating sight unseen and deciding whether to marry someone they have never looked at. Messy, addictive, and the easiest binge on this list. Save it for Sunday, when you have nothing left to prove.
That is the weekend. One cinema trip, one wedding, one mystery, one fantasy binge — and a thriller to finish it off. Tell us in the comments which one you are starting with.
Featured image: FilmOne / Dear Ajayi.
