Friday, 26 June 2015

Review of London Premiere of Tolulope Yesufu's Murderer in Law


The movie Murderer in law premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 26th June 2015. Prominent on the Blue carpet were Nelson Spyk, Danny Erskine, Tolulope Yesufu, HRH and Chief Oyebade, Ruke Amata, Francis Uwadi, Nonso Nwaiwu, M A Benson, Adenike Helen Osabutey, Ade Bello,  Ken Smart, Riyike Alayande, DJ Abass,Kenneth Benson, Gift Boyo, Ifeoma Okeke and Vanessa Adekola.and a host of other important people. In fact the premiere was more like a carnival a the crowds kepy coming in. The premier was hosted in 2 screens by DJ Abass CEO of DJ Media and sponsored by Lebara who also launched Lebara play at the premiere.

Storyline: Murderer-in-law tells the story of Lola and TJ, both in a relationship. Lola lives with her friend whilst TJ lives at home with his mother who sees Lola as a threat to a relationship with her son. The movie reveals how the mother in law and daughter law managed their relationship to a success story. The storylime was full of suspense and a lot of humour.

I commend the writer and Producer Tolulope Yesufu for coming up with such a brilliant storyline. In the African culture, the mother never wants to leave her son particularly to a woman no matter how much in love they may be. This story line is so real and although not all mother in laws are like the one projected in the movie, mothers have this thing of reminding children how they carried them for 9 months and took care of them till they became men.

The crunch of this particular storyline is that Lola the proposed daughter in law was ready to fight fire for fire and was ready to do anything to win the love of her fiancé even if it mean plotting against her mother in law. The good thing about this storyline is that the audience were able to flow with the storyline and were able to adapt quickly following the whole story through.

My only critic would be that I though the story dragged on for too long and that one or two scenes could have been removed as they did not add anything relevant to the storyline. Also having said that, I would also commend the script writer again. Not only did she write about a societal ill, she tried to exploit ways of dealing with the ill even though the methods were unconventional, but in the end she achieved results. Not only did she get her fiancé back, she got the blessing and repect of her mother in law. In earnest, it was a cycle making the syory a complete story.

Cast: Directed by London based director, Nelson Spyk, the movie featured Tolulope Yesufu, Adenike Helen Osabutey, Ade Bello,  Ken Smart, Danny Erskine, Theodora Ibekwe-Oyebade, Marie Kumba Gomez, Gift Boyo, Ifeoma Okeke and Vanessa Adekola.
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Watching the movie, I wouls particularly like to commend three people. Firstly, I want to commend Ken Smart who played the part of a landlord. I have seen Ken in two or three movies prior to this one, nut he (pardon my language), he nailed this role. He was humorous and alive, you could see a real womanizing landlord in him and he did it with so much ease. I believe the role suited him such that I am looking forward to seeing him do even better in subsequent movies.

This is the first movie I am seeing Vanessa Adekoya who played the role of the house help (Folake aka Suru). I am used to seeing Vanessa on the red carpet doing interviews. What can I say about her? If I was a scout, she would definitely win my vote. In fact, I was shocked as she made me laugh and not only me but the majority of those that were at the premiere. She depicted a typical local village girl, she played the role so well and to me if she stays focused and does not lose track, she is an upcoming talent not only in Nollywood but in any where she chooses to go. I see more Directors casting her in subsequent movies.

I thought I had seen the best of  Adenike Helen Osabutey> However, she blew me beyond my socks in this movie. She  is just a natural talent with so much potential. Throughout the movie, we saw exactly what was expected of her as a dominating mother and mother in law and what was more exciting is how she played that role with ease. Her command of the Yoruba language added and contributed largely in sealing the role and the fact that she added comedy and humour to the role was a bonus. Could not really fault her. I see Adenike going places, but like I always advice, it is always good not to lose focus and keep improving and the sky would be too small to be her limit.

I would like to commend the Producer Tolulope Yesufu for giving her vision of the movie and the Director Nelson Spyk for taking the talent he had in terms of the cast and creating such an awesome movie. Yes I said it, the movie cannot be describes as anything else but awesome. As a reviewer and critic, I think there was a right balance in the cast and everyone did a perfect job even outside their comfort zones. Was nice seeing HRH Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade playing the role of a mistress and a back stabbing friend as well as being a tale bearer (Amebo) as we call them in Yoruba.

The Nollywood industry is evolving very quickly and with what   I saw in the premiere of this movie, there is talent, some so raw that are waiting to be harnessed. Directors within the industry need to fish these talents out and build them up so that a new set of actors and actresses are being produced. I would like to cry out to the actors guild to help identify and develop these talents so that our industry can grow to greater heights.

Picture Quality: The picture quality was generally good.  Although some transitions were a bit slow, pictures were clear and generally within the frame. I am not a fan of the fast paced pictures taken to display the city, but non the less on the whole I could not fault the picture quality.

Sound Quality: With regards to the sound, again for most parts, the sound was of very good quality. The sound was clear and you could hear clearly what the cast were saying. I think in some cases the music was too loud and may have slightly overshadowed part of the voice of the cast but on the whole, I think with relation to the sound, there were more positives than negatives.

Overall performance:  One thing I would have liked to see especially for those that don’t speak Yoruba or Ibo was sub titles. Helen, Tolu, the fake mum and the house help spoke both languages and sub titles would have assisted in explaining what they were saying.
This movie has been in the pipeline for long and it is obvious that a lot of work was put into the movie. The movie not only had a story to tell, it was well articulated, brilliantly presented and above all full of humour.
Though I do not score or rate movies anymore, without any doubts in my mind, this movie is an A class movie.  I would like to commend the Director Nelson Spyk, the Producer Tolulope Yesufu and the entire cast and crew for a job well done. At the end of the movie, I had to give an  only would I recommend this movie as a applause and believe me, I don’t do that in many movies.
The question remains if I would recommend this movie. Undoubtedly, the movie has a definite message and as a  reviewer and critic, I would like to see it go beyond the London premier possibly to cinemas or to places like Iroko, Netflix or even Lebara Play. The movie is simple to follow and ticks all the boxes with regards to sound and pictures. I would recommend the movie any day and anytime of the day and all that is left to say to the cast and crew is a big well done!!
Watch the trailer:

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