Review: Fifty (2015 Film)

Sunday, January 24, 2016

In celebration of Nextlix’s launch in Nigeria not actually but I found this Nollywood movie on Netflix and dare I say it was my fave Nigerian movie of 2015? Yes, I dare say so! The movie was sold out during its first screenings in Lagos and London and celebrated at the 2015 London Film Festival!


Fifty is the new 25

The Rundown
Behind the name: What happens when women turn age 50 (on TV) 
Country: Nigeria, 2015
 Genre: Drama, Romance, (The opposite of coming-of-age)
Produced by: Ebony Life Films
Director: Biyi Bandele
                  Cast: Dakore Akande (as Tola), Ireti Doyle (as Elizabeth), (Omoni Oboli as Maria) Nse Ikpe-Etim (as Kate)
                  Compare to: Sex and the City: The Movie (with more depth), Flower Girl
                  Hate it or Love it? Actually, love it

Synopsis in a Sentence: Four friends, about 50 years old, share their successes and failures on-screen as their lives unravel before them; One’s a primadonna diva, another a successful business woman, another's a prayer-loving party planner, and the last a celebrity gynaecologist, but between these successful women, one of them gets preggers for her friend’s husband, frolics with boys half her age, has a chronic illness, and the last has a deep, dark secret; which one of them out does the others with her dirty little secret? 
           

On Writing: The Plot
The plot is quite layered and goes deeper than the surface, unlike most movies like these appear to portray. You know the wannabe ‘modern’ Nigerian movies that try so hard to appeal to the international audience that they loose their originality? Well this is not quite one of them! It’s real and as authentic as ‘shine-shine’ movies like this can be. The plot is fresh and the characters are round and multi-faceted. Forget the “good girl” vs. “bad girl” (or in this case, good woman/bad woman) story that so many Nigerian movies are known for. This one is new and actually, a bit profound, especially at the end.
And I must add, Nigeria is on of those few places in the world today where being older is a good thing. And this movie just celebrates that.  (4/5)

On Acting: The Cast
Dakore Egbuson
The cast is quite spot on! Shout out to  Dakore Egbuson, who plays the prima-donna-diva reality TV star. Her character is multifaceted and she plays it quite well. It’s great to see Egbuson in productions once again. 
Ireti Doyle
Also cheers to Ireti Doyle who plays Elizabeth, the sophisticated, but apparently loose obstetrician whose personal life is a mess. Her character is lovable-hatable and Doyle nails it to a T! 

Omoni Oboli
Omoni Oboli plays Maria, the accomplished businesswoman who has everything down but love. At 49 her “time is ticking out” and so she gets intertwined with a married man. Oboli does a good job of it. 

And then there’s the party-planning prayer-warrior, Kate, played by Nse Ikpe-Etim. Her life may seem like a paradox, but there are struggles in there, and Ikpe-Etim is cast and shot well for this role.

Overall a fabulous cast! Great work, Mo Abdu, on getting this set-up together! But might I add, because I know I would if I were fifty, that most of these women (according to publicly-disclosed records, ahem!) are actually in their late forties. Would have been great to have actual about-fifty year-olds or older play these roles. How about Liz Benson, or Patience Ozokwor, or Eucharia Anunobi, or the countless other older and talented Nigerian actresses that could have brought these characters to life?
                  Then of course, there are the celebrity appearances and performances from Waje to Tiwa Savage to Nneka to Femi Kuti to the Minister of Enjoyment himself, King Sunny Adé! How cool?
(4.5/5)


On Production: The Creativity
Production is almost #Flawless! And speaking of the music, I once went on a mini-rant about terrible sound production in Nigerian movies. In the last decade, video quality in Nollywood movies have improved significantly, while sound engineering fell behind. In this film though, the sound is quite perfect; sound pairing, musical performances, and sound effects were spot-on! Great job with audio editing and mixing! (And this is coming from a DJ)
And of course, video production is fabulous as well. It’s well directed by Biyi Bandele, who also directed the movie, Half of a Yellow Sun. Production was so good, this movie was featured in the 2015 London film Festival. Yayy! Go Naija!
(4.5/5)                                             



On Resolution: The Conclusion
Alright, the movie is almost perfect but like all things in this world, there are a few flaws (which is why no movie in this review blog will ever get a 20/20 score—If we were perfect, we’d be in heaven, but we’re on earth, so…) This movie is almost perfect; it’s excellently produced, and the ending of the film is also seamless too, but at the same time, I find—in the unravelling of events in this movie—a reluctance to delve into the deep and get dirty with all the nasty discoveries that we find here.
First, the movie seems to condone this idea: Man cheats (due to no complete fault of his own, but still) the woman gets her ‘bashing,’ but the man doesn’t quite get the same. Why so?
Second we see that: Woman’s life is a mess so she goes after little boys and gets played on, and then we discover a little-dark secret that’s quite disturbing. It warrants a “what’s behind this kind of behaviour thought” but we get nowhere near that. What we get is an attempt to smooth out relationships, which is fine, but still…
Third: Struggling lady has to deal with a life-threatening illness, a gambling husband, and all the bills on her plate, and so goes to God in prayer—the endless Night Vigils, the pastor visits; this is Nigeria, we can all relate, but we get a brushing over when it comes to exactly how she deals with this, and the role of God and prayer in a struggling believer’s life. I found a little caveat that could probably better portray how and perhaps why so many Nigerians turn to religion for help. And then
Fourth: Seemingly fabulous Lady has some deep-dark secrets that could make Tamar in the Bible weep for her in pitty, and all we get is a sweep-over of a resolution. These are some Precious—the movie—type issues but you know, life is fabulous and can we just brush over that; the movie’s about to end.
            No movie can portray a thorough socio-psychological analysis of a people, but they certainly help with portraying issues and aspects of other’s lives that many (especially international viewers) and even local viewers may never have access to, and may never develop and empathy for. In viewing the not-so-perfect lives of these seemingly wealthy women, through this movie, we develop a deeper understanding for them. No one’s life is perfect, and this movie does well to relay that. At the same time, it does less than it could have to highlight some of the unique fragments of modern Nigerian issues, and as a people who don’t and can’t get the same global airtime with Western and even Asian audiences, it shouldn’t have taken the luxury of sliding over some of the deeper issues. Still, in terms of movie production, the resolution can’t be so easily faulted. Although I wish it had ended in one huge party as the move had been teasing all along!
(4/5)

The Verdict: A good watch! Light, but not so light, deep, but not so deep, original, Nigerian, true-to-self movie! It’s what we’ve been waiting for since Flower Girl, and far, far better!
Overall Score = 17/20