Hazeezat

There are some movies that you start watching and make you begin to question your life (like that feeling when a drunkard is hitting on you – just “what have I done in life to deserve this?”). Fortunately, this was not one of them. This movie was on the very far opposite end of the spectrum.

Hazeezat is a surprisingly delightful film about an Alhaji’s ‘other woman’ who falls out of favor with him and finds herself in the home of the man who had a crush on her back in uni. The movie follows her story as she falls in this man and tries to complete her unfinished business with the Alhaji.

The story in this movie had me hooked from the trailer. Not because it was surprisingly different – at least it did not seem so from the trailer – but because it just seemed like it would be a delight to watch – and that it definitely was. The story holds a steady pace up until the halfway point when Osita, played by Alexx Ekubo, attempts to hit on her. Watching the way the scenes were structured and the hole that was placed there, any viewer would be savy enough to realize that there was a purpose for that hole in the story and that the hole would be filled later. However, after that hole in the story happens everything else in the storyline starts to fall apart. Things stop making sense and the structure is generally lost (or at least in the process of being lost). At the end of the movie, we see the reasons for these lapses in the story however regardless of the end, things after the halfway point of the movie could still have been structured better so they didn’t seem so sudden without loosing the main focus of the end.

Having said that, this does not remove from the value of the movie as a whole. This was the only flaw in the story itself and it is not big enough a reason to discredit the movie. On the contrary, the story of Hazeezat is nothing like what you would have imagined after seeing the trailer, and even after watching the movie till the end, it is nothing like the other movies that have been made with similar storylines. The movie does a great job of hiding the last twist without raising any kind of suspicion in the audience (therefore I urge you to not read the comments on iRoko Tv for this movie until after you have seen the movie), in fact you do not realize the true genre of the movie until the end.

The cast of this movie in totality consisted of very strong players. From Mike to Segun and everyone in between. The movie was not being held up by any one individual actor alone but each actor had their shining moments, some more than others. Watching Mike as the pacing, stuttering loverboy was the most adorable role he has been in all year. Segun Arinze was cast as the Hausa-accented Alhaji and sometimes it worked but for the most part, it was not 100% on conviction. They say practice makes perfect, I say practice makes better, and that was more than true for Alexx Ekubo. Alexx is so far gone from his early awkward days in front of the camera that made me want to gauge my eyes out. In fact, it was only after watching the entire movie did I realize that “oh, that was in fact Alexx Ekubo”. He has become more effortless and natural in front of the camera, then again he has also played this role a few times before (think “Weekend Getaway“, “Lagos Cougars“, “My Rich Boyfriend“, “Gold digging” and the list goes on and on). Mary Njoku as Hazeezat did not have single amazing moment as regards her performance, however, she was able to carry the character convincingly from start to finish.

Not to discredit the cast, but after watching the movie, the mvp (most valuable player) of this movie was definitely the scriptwriter. But of course, there must be an mvp in the cast and that crown goes to Mary Lazarus. You might remember her from “Desperate Housegirls“. In that movie she wasn’t bad at all but was overshadowed by the amazing Tamara Eteimo. However, in this movie, her talent was front and center and even though she was never bad to start with her development has been in leaps and bounds.

The movie did have its little problems here and there especially with the director and his randomly shaky camera. I was also wondering about the OR (operating room) where Hazeezat was being operated on in the beginning. You get the feeling that it is intended to be an OR because there is a nurse and a doctor and they are fiddling with things in her vagina – so I sure as h*** hope that it is surgery they are performing on her – but then you look around the OR and spot what looks like a palm oil jar on the corner and a food container – so it’s an OR by day and a canteen by night? Don’t get me started on the doctor that is checking the pulse with his thumb….

When watching the movie there are many things you question especially “why on earth is she always wearing the same dress when she goes to see Alhaji?” but if you hold on till the end it will all make sense. Hazeezat is a blissful surprise that is worth every minute.