Director- Mildred Okwo
Writer- Richard Odilu
Producer- Rita Dominic
Cast- Seun Ajayi, Beverly Naya, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Gregory Ojefua with cameo appearance from Linda Ejiofor, Enyinna Nwigwe, Tope Tedela and Rita Dominic
Time – 2hrs
Year – 2016
Genre – Romantic Comedy
Surulere made the list of my anticipated movies for 2016. If you missed it, read it here. So, I was hell bent on seeing it. Thanks to Lagos traffic I got to GDC late and then thanks to the concession stand guys I was delayed another 10minutes. Not one to be easily deterred, I got in with no more than 10 of us in the room and at the scene were Linda’s character was been fired. I settled in and tried to figure my bearing.
Surulere tells a story of a young lad, Arinze played by Seun Ajayi and his plans to get rich quick.
Seun Ajayi was the newbie in this feature and after a run in with him during the AMVCAS he mentioned he had been in short films, plays, and the likes. He felt like a new kid off the block and with time he will pick up. However, there was nothing in his character that showed he had plans to get rich quick. So he owed a couple of bills, got the only deal of getting rich thrust upon him and didn’t even deliver to and he is expected to ‘Surulere’?
Lala had a dual role of playing with loads of make-up. Her role as the older landlady was obviously the more tasking one which she pulled off well asides for the voice which sounded like screeching tyres, however, I do applaud her for putting her back in the character.
Beverly, seemed to be my hero of this production. Her role as an air head with just beauty was spot on felt like I hadn’t seen her in anything better. For the other top notch waka pass roles, one question would it be any better if these characters were not in the production? I think not, but I give props to Eyinna and Tope Tedela for eliciting some laughter from me through the production.
Cinematography, production and editing had its gremlins, didn’t expect that from an Audrey Silver production. Some characters and their words weren’t in sync, they seemed to spend a long time on the Boss scene which felt obnoxious and could have been edited but hey! Camera angles seem to work though with the colours of both clothes and characters standing out.
The script was quite basic can’t begin to describe what I felt at the end. I had watched the Meeting and I totally impressed, however, Surulere doesn’t come close to it. The lines didn’t elicit any funny emotion or reaction, so there was a heavy reliance on actions, intonation, and contortion. What this means, the movie can be likened to Aki and Pawpaw or Osufia movie and if the actions were removed, there will be no actual movie.
As an anticipated movie of 2016 ‘Surulere’ was a low blow and can be placed under, watch at your own risk and earns a 4.5/10 from Xplore.
