Yahoo+

In an era of movies made from start to finish without rhyme or reason, without storyline or direction, Yahoo Plus has a clear trajectory working in its favor.

It is the story of Ose (Keezyto) and Abacha (Somadina Adinma). Two young men frustrated with the struggles of hustling in Nigeria and take to the path they deem as a more guaranteed option – Yahoo Plus. They link up with the powerful voice behind the phone, Mansa, to help them out. Mansa is an assumedly rich and powerful kingpin living in Hong Kong who requires one sacrifice each from them both in order to open up the gates to them. The rest of the movie follows what happens as cracks appear in the plan and the details of Yahoo plus actually unfold.

There are a few shining lights of this movie and the most touted one is its demystification of ‘blood money’. Especially in an industry that is often blamed for glorifying said blood money escapades from the times of the original “Living in Bondage” (which is cleverly referenced in this movie), to even more recent Asaba made films starring characters who always seem to have suitcases of money that come out of a secret room in their house with a red padlock. The movie decently establishes the frustrations and desperations of the characters as well as the moral struggle in the first half, then goes ahead to truly unveil the truths about the source of wealth in this so called ‘Yahoo Plus’ business.

However, no matter how impressive the films demystification of ‘ritual money’ as well as its modern translation of the “dibia” is, it still looses impact based on its method of delivery. Enter the main flaw of this film. It is immensely preachy! It is preachy because it can’t afford to show a lot of the things it needs to say so it simply resorts to many of the pivotal moments simply being discussions where things are shared as opposed to scenes where things are shown. It’s hard to speak on this without mentioning the obvious budget problems.

If this film has six characters, the budget was the seventh. It’s highly apparent scene after scene the many ways that the film is restricted by its low budget. From little things like the kind of gun used that looks barely convincing to the shots and cinematography that are choppy in more scenes than one could count, the budget clearly restricts this film from many a potential. Hence, it is safe to assume that the reason why the writer and maker settle for the “say it, don’t show it” approach in many a scene is due to this roadblock.

This roadblock lessens the impact of the overall message of the movie – above mentioned demystification. When you have to sit and listen to the main message of the movie simply be discussed by two characters for an extended period of time, one might wonder why they couldn’t just get the same message from an interview on YouTube or a thread on Twitter. The inability of this movie to depict more in various scenes and to extend itself outside of its singular setting (Mansa’s home) does a lot to restrict its overall impact.

The second shining light of this film and possibly the reason it will be most remembered is its use of the Igbo language. Nollywood seems to have formed this bad habit of always characterizing any Igbo character who can speak the language as a carricature of a early 2000s Onitsha based importer-exporter character. They are always loud and obnoxious and almost always illiterate. Yahoo Plus takes that narrative and throws it in the bin. It depicts educated men and women who switch between the language and English so swiftly that you don’t notice the transition many a-times. It negates the whole concept of an “Igbo accent” that is distinct from that of your average Nigerian, and it normalizes the ‘cool’ factor of your average Igbo youth in a way that mainstream nollywood has never bothered to.

What it lacks in budget, this movie attempts to make up for with casting. And don’t be fooled by that large picture of Ken Erics on the poster because his appearance here is at best an extended cameo. However, that picture pulls you in to experience the magic of lesser known actors like Keezyto, Ifeoma Obinwa who plays Pino Pino, Echelon Mbadiwe and Somadina Adinma. Together this cast does well enough to hold this movie up. In many scenes though, Keezyto’s performance does come off too forced to swallow naturally but he is tempered against Somadina whose character innately has better control. Echelon is a star in every scene and Ifeoma is the surprise here with how easily she embodies Pino Pino.

Watch “Yahoo Plus” because as a movie it is sufficiently entertaining. However, don’t watch it expecting it to wow you based on the frills (visuals, effects, cinematography). Yahoo Plus is also not even about the message it delivers in the end. Its pleasures are in the moments on the way to the end. It’s in the dialogues, the characterizations, the smartly written lines littered throughout and other such mundane things.