OLOLADE: THERE IS ALWAYS A PRICE

(A Movie Review)

Directed by: Adenitis Joseph

Written by: Lani Asida

Released on: 24th November

Language: Yoruba

Stream Site: Netflix

Inside Nollywood Rating: 2:00

you feel  the length of your wrongs more times when it glares at you in your victims or what/who’s left of them. Olalade, the  name at first made me think it had to do with a person, as the central theme of the movie, till I progressed. A lack of an “Olalade” or a “Lade” character had me thinking alot about what the movie actually might be about and a dive into what the term meant saved me.

The movie cinematography for one was poorly presented. A glaring lack of quality was obvious in the camera and in the sound progression of the movie, which was quite disheartening. That combined with the disconcerted and disorganised scenes is a glaring problem, the constant flyings and disorganisation of plots, scenes and character makes the movie exhausting to see.

Ololade is a 6 episode TV Series portraying the life of two friends and characterised  with lots of family dramas. It revolves around sudden wealth obtained by Shina, played by Frank Donga and his friend, Lateef, played by Femi Adebayo. Shina suddenly got 50 million naira in his account with no explanation or tales as to how and why, while Lateef got 20 million for covering up a murder. Shina went right into spending this mystery money by investing in real estate and betting business together with Lateef.

This part had me pausing and thinking, because of how much it depicted the present nature of the Society we have today. The sudden wealth was not questioned, instead, we had jubilations from his mother [Jayie Oluwakemi] only seeking  ways to Spend her son’s money and resorted to attacking and spinning problems for Sade [Mide Funmi Martins] which to me was unnecessary.

It was nice to watch Lateef grill in guilt till he eventually set the path for finding Laide and giving her parents a break from tears and eventually peace.

Questioning the source of money is something worth doing and commendable as it depicts us, but neglecting to do so is all shades of wrong and this we could see in the movie and an important takeaway, a lesson one can learn.

The series failed to live up to the threshold that has been set by other series. It lacked an in depth storyline and felt superficial and shallow, nothing deep or out of the ordinary making it a little exhausting. The lack of story or a central message was glaring because I found it difficult to grasp the central theme of the movie, it seemed it focused on many things at once leaving what it was meant to portray behind.

Shina and Lateef played their role exceptionally well and seamlessly and I must commend them for it. With Shina embodying the quiet father role and Lateef being the playboy, it truly felt like it. Beyond them, the actors in the series seamlessly delivered the role and throughout the Series, I was yet to find a scene where the actors under delivered whether in acting or emotional display.

The movie evoked some form of curiosity and at the same time, irritation in me. His constant reliance and blind belief in his pastor played by Mr Macaroni, despite it seemingly being a show, was an eye sore and I prayed for the most part that it came to an end. Curiosity was sparked in different scenes of the movie which is impressive. The sudden alert, reappearance of Ihotu [Debby], money laundering offer and now sudden death of big Mummy, played by Mercy Aigbe all had me curious as to what will happen next even though the stories around here were not played in depth or deeply as was expected.

Too many cliche and over extended scenes made this series too uninteresting and mostly disengaging. Poor plot twist and barely relatable storyline added to the problem.

Would recommend if you looking for a casual but family inclined  story. If not, then by all means avoid this TV Series  except you want to pay a visit to disappointment and avoidable anger.

By Miracle Marcus