Love and Oil

Nowadays, there are not many Nigerian home videos that are appealing. Either it is trying to be too many things at once that it ends up being nothing or it is not trying to be anything and still ends up being nothing.

Love and Oil was indeed a pleasant surprise because from the moment you hit ‘play’ it captures your attention. Everything from the picture, to the music, to the graphics and the directing are awe-inspiring. There were a couple scenes were I purposely rewound just to watch the technicalities of the directing going on. Quite frankly, asides from the fact that it was a two part movie – and we’ll get into that in a bit – I don’t know why it was a home video.

Love and Oil started off as something and ended up as something else. The movie is a number one victim of the curse of the second half. It started off as an innocent story of a caring king trying to match make his daughter with someone he assumes is a ‘perfect suitor’. The children are of this age, they are forward thinking and completely against it but agree to go with it to please their parents. It’s the perfect making of a potentially amazing and semi-unique love story until the second half.

Before you know it, someone tries to get creative who shouldn’t have. In our attempt to make our movies different, we shouldn’t lose the movie entirely. The twist in this movie would have worked if it wasn’t so surprising and out-of-the-blue. It almost seems like halfway into the movie someone realized that the movie might be getting a bit too predictable so they decided to throw a massive whirlwind, in the name of a twist, into it.

Not only was there a twist in the storyline, there was that and then a concluding-final-who-dunnit twist “of life”. The twist in the storyline that comes at the beginning of the second half was palatable, it was endurable, it would have made for an interestingly different movie. The twist at the end of the movie however, did come off as a bit of a lazy man’s attempt to add variety to the storyline. That plus the fact that it was unwarranted and a bit implausible.

Now on to the great aspects of this movie. The attention to detail in the first half was amazing. The camera itself is a character of its own in this movie. The director shines through and for me he was the star of the movie. The work in building the mood and atmosphere of everything from the palace as distinct to the doctor’s residence and everything in between was significant and well appreciated.

And then there was the soundtrack. For me, the soundtrack again was its own character in this movie. It was lovely, and I will admit that I started part two and found myself rewinding the beginning over and over again just to hear it.

As regards the performances in this movie, Yul Edochie was his usual concrete self. He brought all that was required of his character with conviction to the screen. Nuella had her good moments but for the most part I felt like she could have brought a lot more than she did.

I have found a new love thanks to this movie, in the person of Naza Ekezie who plays Deb. From the moment she steps onto the screen she captures it. Nobody else is in the frame when this girl is in the frame – both literally and figuratively. That is to say that I am sorry for you if you have to share the frame with her because she is stealing your shine and then some more. She is captivating and fluid. I do not know if it is her character or just her performance or the miracle that is the combination of both but she is a delight.

The movie was simply gliding along the railway of potential greatness until it is massively derailed. It is best to rate this movie as two movies, the amazing part one and the downfall of part two.