The premiere of FIFTY, a movie from the stable of Mo Abudu, El-Life TV boss, will hold on December 13 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. And predictably, the entertainment sector is agog with news about the forthcoming premiere. And the reason is not farfetched: Mo Abudu, the movie’s producer is leaving no stone unturned to make the premiere a grand event.
For instance, the invitation cards to the event have been described as an unprecedented keepsake. It’s pleasing to the eyes and emblematic of Abudu’s impressive personal standard and persona. The invitation card reportedly has an access card hence it will be impossible for anyone to attend the event without invitation – this is surely bad news to party crashers. The dress code for the event is strictly glamorous hence not a few members of the high society are visiting foremost fashion designers and boutiques to purchase expensive and trendy wears to the. The international media partners that will be covering the red carpet event include Vogue, Ebony and Essence Magazines.
FIFTY explores the fascinating lives of four female characters with salty humour and valour. Starring Iretiola Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli, and Nse Ikpe-Etim, the brand new movie from EbonyLife Films captures the lives of the women at the pinnacle of their careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are four friends forced, at midlife, to take stock of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the expansive and highly entertaining backdrop of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos.
They live and work in the resurgent, ever-bustling, 24-hour megacity of Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa’s biggest and most vibrant economy.
Tola is a reality TV star whose marriage to an attorney, Kunle, never stood a chance, thanks to an unpleasant family secret. Elizabeth is a distinguished obstetrician whose predilection for boy-toys alienates her from her daughter. Forty-nine year-old Maria however, has an affair with a married man that results in an unexpected pregnancy and Kate’s battle with a devastating ailment forces her into religious extremism.
Despite themselves, these four Nigerian women whose fascinating love lives are explored subscribe to the myth of a knight in shining armor and light at the end of the very dark tunnel. By the end of the film, these princely paragons glimmer as shining exceptions to every rule and every norm of societal correctness. They flirt with egotism, duplicity and uproariously depicted sexual ineptitude cum independence with varying degrees of forbearance, until they run out of patience. Then, with habitual soap opera-like candour, they set in motion the climax with flouncy, theatrical flourish.
Although FIFTY aspires to be more than a slick soap opera, underneath its feistiness it glistens with romantic fancies. Contributing to the heady atmosphere is a luscious soundtrack of folk ballads, rendered by King Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Nneka, Tiwa Savage and Waje who all make cameo appearances. Although the songs slip unobtrusively in and out of the background, they function subliminally as romantic chorale that lends the movie depth and a crimson romantic flush. That radiance complements the story’s phoenix locale, a posh suburban delight of rosy sunsets, large, pristine homes, offices among other sceneries.
The four leading ladies elicit awe by their flamboyant, flavorful performances. Doyle has shed the defensive hauteur that made her portrayal of a young wife in TV sitcom “Fuji House of Commotion” seem too laborious and unwieldy. Oboli imbues her character with blush and a sexy comic swivel, and Ikpe-Etim exudes smoldering heat that is tempered by Dakore’s ambitious poise.
The movie is little more than a collection of vignettes strung around a candy-sweet theme and soundtracks. Fifty is no doubt, a sequence of star turns by four enchanting divas evoking dramatic fireworks from every discerning movie buff.
In a rare happenstance in the country’s film making history, the movie had a great outing at its screening at the 2015 London Film Festival in the ‘Love Category.’ While Biyi Bandele directs it, Mo Abudu, Executive Producer of Desperate Housewives Africa, the continent’s first drama format of the imported series, is also the Executive Producer of FIFTY.
