Oge’s Sister

You can make a convincing argument that almost everything in this movie is average. That the main story is average, that the conclusion is average. That the point of the movie is average. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, it’s just a different arrangement. But then what is originality in 2014? Nearly everything has been done and every concept explored. It’s not about creating a new creature, it’s about taking someone we know, giving him a total makeover and attempting to convince us that we have never met him before, which Oge’s sister does.

Oge’s sister is the story of Esther, the sister who has somehow become the bane of her sister’s existence. Esther is played by the effervescent Yvonne Jegede who couldn’t have possibly chosen a better script to return with. Esther somehow transformed from the good sister to the bad sister over the years and has now returned for ‘one night only’ to do what can only be termed as ‘ruining her sister’s marriage’. Oge in this movie is played by Uche Jombo who is married to Seun Akindele, the loving husband.

Yes, maybe everything is quite average about the movie on the surface but after seeing the movie twice it strikes a bit like an orchestra. The orchestra is divided into sections: the strings, the wind, etc. and each section has its part to play as a whole but each section gets a chance to shine one after the other, and it was like that in this movie. The movie begins with a poignant introduction with Yvonne Jegede ripping up the screens with her crescendoing energy. It is Jegede’s screen time, it is her moment until some point after the conflict is established at which point it becomes Uche Jombo’s moment. She brings the salacious young girl hoodwinking her mother in one move and controlling all the men in another, and then she also channels the loving protecting mother in reverse. Jombo controls the screen and the direction of the story until the revelation occurs, then it become’s Seun Akindele’s playing field. He rips through the screen like a tornado, both in character and in performance, destroying everything in his path. It’s his moment! However, somewhere in there where Akindele’s character’s emotional crisis has plateaued and starts to come back down, it becomes the director’s moment. The subtleties that were probably previously present become more pronounced because of the intensity of the moment. There are three main actors in this movie (Jombo, Jegede and Akindele) but there are four stars including the director who all get their moments in the theatre.

Now the movie is not perfect, in fact it is far from it. The basic building block of the entire story is after all just a dysfunctional family member whose past actions come to hunt her after many years has passed. It’s nothing new. Its been seen before but it is dressed in new clothes and it works. It’s not the dressing in new clothes that decides the verdict, it’s whether or not it works and it works.

The movie, however, does have its flaws especially in production with the fluctuating audio quality. Honestly, it’s almost like we are back to 2008 with this audio. Sometimes there are subtitles for the suddenly-low-audio other times you’re just going to have to rewind and increase your volume.

Despite the energy brought on by Yvonne Jegede, the movie does have a bit of a slow start until the flashbacks begin but afterwards it holds a consistent pace and is definitely worth the watch.