A deep dive into the wild and woolly filmmaking world of The Critics – a group of young would-be filmmakers working in a rough neighbourhood in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, also known as Crocodile City – Crocodile is a remarkable examination and celebration of a collective whose super low-budget sci-fi romps acts both of a celebration of the films they love and the world they look to escape from.
With material extracted from a 13-year period, The Critics (a group of five, Raymond, Ronald and Richard Yusuff, Godwin and Victor Josiah) appear both in front of and behind the camera, while Pietra Brettkelly helps construct their words and images into a freewheeling delve into their world, based on imagination, experimentation and community.
Reacting to their lives in Kaduna, one of the collective simply says: “Instead of being just angry we make films to fill the void…filmmaking is an escape from being sad and lonely.”
Crocodile brims with frenetic energy as it cuts back and forth between the group filming their scenes and shows moments from their real lives, an extra layer being the plentiful footage from the 50+ short films they have made over the past 13 years. Sometimes a lack of formal chronology can make things a little confusing – they switch between hand-held digital cameras and i-phones – but in the end the sheer verve and passion wins the viewer over.
In fact, as the film develops it also starts to settle, especially as The Critics reflect on politics, the question of what is necessary to be a ‘Nigerian filmmaker’, and how they want to develop as creative adults and not simply remain movie-mad kids. Growth and development is a natural goal, but creating dynamic images and stories is what is most important for them.
Towards the end, the group head off to Frankfurt in Germany for an exhibition of their work, where they are moved and delighted to be feted for their work. The film acknowledges their transition from energetic film-fans (the film is delightfully punctuated with extracts from the films they play homage to, such as Joker and Star Wars) to creative individuals whose journeys may take them in different and exciting directions.
As one of the group comments towards the end of the film: “We are not little kids playing around with i-phones anymore. We are artists finding our voice, creating work that we believe is important to us. We are asking to be critiqued, and we will have to bear it.”
New Zealand-Nigeria, 2026, 100mins
Dirs: The Critics, Pietra Brettkelly
Producers: Pietra Brettkelly, The Critics
Scr: Pietra Brettkelly
Cinematography: The Critics, Rachael Yusuff, Basile Carre-Agostini, David Wills Augustin
Editors: Cushla Dillon, Chia Chi Hsu, Nicolas Chaudeurge
Music: Tom Third
With: Raymond J. Yusuff, Godwin Josiah, Ronald Yusuff, Victor Josiah, Richard Yusuff, Rachael Yusuff, Rachel Ken, Rejoice Josiah, Raphael (Bobo) Ken
