Tenants of the House is an African political drama directed by Kunle Afolayan and written by Wale Okedawan and Tunde Babalola. It stars Yakubu Mohammed, Dele Odule, Joselyn Dumas and Rashida Lobbo and is currently streaming on Netflix with a run time of 2 hours 12 minutes with audio in English.
Netflix describes the political drama as:
“A driven politician looks to settle a long-standing crisis amid corruption, romance and personal agendas. Inspired by the novel by Dr. Wale Okediran”.
– Tenants of the House review does not contain spoilers –
Tenants of the House is an adaptation of a 2009 book named Tenants of the House: A Fictional Account of the Nigerian Parliament by Dr. Wale Okediran. The movie tells the story of the African political methodologies that takes place at the Federal House of Representatives. It showcases the numerous corrupt and faulty tenders getting passed secretly and unmasks the true procedures going on among the powerful elite.
Tenants of the House doesn’t have significance and solidity in its screenplay. The movie goes on to show a detailed narrative of the political embroil which is lengthy but lacks intensity. Though the plot is interesting, the elongated dialogues ruin the mood of the movie. The talks, arguments, exchange of views, debates and disputes portrayed throughout the film is unenlightening and cluttering set of jabbering.
Image Credit: Still from Tenants of the House, now streaming on Netflix Image Credit: Still from Tenants of the House, now streaming on Netflix
The story is very common with a backdrop of political fights among people in power and the poor suffering under their unjust rule. There are no surprises or fresh elements in it and falls flat when it comes to offering engrossing substance. Tenants of the House gets distracted from its theme of politics and drama to love and attraction. By introducing multiple themes in the legislative crises, the movie tries to present wow segments but miserably crashes.
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Image Credit: Still from Tenants of the House, now streaming on Netflix Image Credit: Still from Tenants of the House, now streaming on Netflix
The movie goes on dropping down instead of getting uplifted till the end. Every character seems lost and goes on blabbering their lines without any expressions suitable for the scene. Be it angry, sad, happy or emotional the tone and facial expressions of the fellow cast members is point-blank. As the movie advances, it takes the turn of being groundless and unclear. The few enjoyable portions of the movie also lose their shine due to monotonous features.
The themes present in the movie get jumbled up and thus Tenants of the House breaks down with nothing left to retain or grip on to the culmination. The repeated conversations and plots drain out the remaining energy left to concentrate on the further plot and compels us to influence our sentiments in scenes required to cry, feel sad or be happy.
Summing up: Tenants of the House
Overall the movie goes wrong in terms of bestowing an unforgettable, moving and affectionate approach to the audiences. This movie is a major example of a book adaptation that went inaccurate and it also spoils one’s intention to go and read the book. Tenants of the House is a one-time watch for its representation of collusion, treacherous love angles and most importantly the subject matter of girl child education.
Tenants of the House is streaming now on Netflix.
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