An Examination of Kunle Afolayan's Directorial Concept in Anikulapo (2022) and Mokalik (2019)

The focus of this long essay is to do a critical review of the directorial style that Kunle Afolayan used in the films under review- Anikulapo (2022) and Mokalik (2019). The aim is to determine whether the director has a particular directorial concept or not, and to assess whether his signature is evident in both films. To do justice to this, this essay employed the auteur theory in its analysis. Both primary and secondary means of data collection were used; the primary data was gathered from the two selected movies- Anikulapo (2022) and Mokalik (2019), while the secondary data was sourced from books, journal articles, and the internet. An unconstructed interview with the director’s line producer was equally utilized in this essay. This study reveals that Kunle Afolayan is an adaptive or versatile director because he is not limited to a particular directorial style. He deploys a new style or styles depending on the unique nature of the script to be produced. However, he is best defined through the auteur frame because of his originality and authenticity. He used both as his signature and as a unique approach to his directorial concept. This essay, therefore, concludes that Kunle Afolayan is an adaptive film director who does not adhere to a single or particular directorial style. Instead, he uses different directorial concept based on the nature of the script he is working on. But he can also be described through the auteur concept frame because of his two signatures “Originality and Authenticity” that can be found across his films. The auteur style serves as an umbrella to other director concept in his film because his originality and authenticity unites his all works.