The Cobweb

Watching this movie was equivalent to having a fail-safe investment and watching it crumble. The Cobweb, on the surface, checks off so many check-boxes for greatness and yet still manages to fall short. The picture, the music, the entire set-up creates the feeling that you are in for a treat but when you sit down for dinner you realize it’s an empty plate.

The Cobweb is a story of a young boy who realizes his musical talent at a young age. Unfortunately for him, his father is resolute that he becomes a scientist when he grows up and will not hear of anything else. The story follows him and his family in his early years and into his later years when he finally achieves this dream.

I was sold this dream with a cover featuring Mary Lazarus, Tamara Eteimo and Uti Nwachukwu. In reality, this three only come in in the later and, dare I say, ‘weaker’ parts of the movie.

The movie was disjointed. There is the first half set in the backdrop of a Yoruba village with a fisherman father, his wife, daughters and one son. He has a dream for his son and he strives to provide for his family. He has good intentions, he has flaws and you can see that he is human. This is all owing to the amazing performance of Funsho Adeolu.

The village backdrop story really is where the gold could have been for this movie if it was executed well. It seemed as though there were two different people directing this movie and/or two different people editing. There were parts were attention was paid to the details and the entire thing seems like a work of art. But after these parts, things just start to happen, scenes start to switch and the audience looses track of how much time has passed and exactly what has happened in all that time passed.

And all this is before the main time lapse where the lead character grows into Uti Nwachukwu. This is the second half of the movie where our male lead has moved to the city and is about to get discovered. If you thought things were confusing previously then the second half will blow your mind with confusion. Again the pace slows back down and we see the male lead as a mechanic who auditions for a spot in an upcoming movie with a big star and gets chosen. Then he finds out that the big star, played by Tamara Eteimo, does not like him nor does she want to act in a movie with him.

Then you blink. And all of a sudden the movie has been made, the boy is a big star, he has been in countless movies (including all of the real life Uti’s filmography) and all the girls in the country are dying for him.

Things in this movie aren’t set up well enough for anyone to have any kind of emotional investment in the movie itself. Then there is the entire confusion that was the Mary Lazarus angle. In reality, the writer of this movie probably had three different ideas in mind (the village story, the star rising and the young lovers between Uti and Mary). The writer made the incorrect assumption that all three stories could be turned into one film. If each idea was explored individually as its own movie, we could have had a much better result. Personally, I would have been happier if the entire movie was set in the village and that storyline was allowed to reach maximum potential because that could have been GREAT!