Dwindle

In a movie with many disappointing frames, the biggest let down was not to arrive until after the entire film, when the title card comes up at the end and reveals for the first time the movie’s name and creators. It says Dwindle, and the subtext reveals it was directed by Kayode Kasum and Dare Olaitan. Kayode Kasum, who brought to life This Lady Called Life(2020), and was able to balance the love, gloom and comedy between Efa Iwara and Bisola Aiyeola is also known for Sugar Rush (2020) and Kambili: The whole 30 yards, and as this list gets longer, you realise why it is a small blessing that this title card only comes up at the end. It would be even worse to tease us with those names and then give us nothing.

Dwindle had lofty ambitions but it failed again and again to meet them. I suppose it is a good sign when you can see where exactly a film is failing, the scenes that could have been better written, gaps that should have been weaved together. It may signify the writers came so close to making it work, that there are only superficial errors to be corrected in subsequent releases. Or perhaps it is more damning to the producers because if you, the audience, could easily spot such failings, why couldn’t they? The premise of Dwindle is quite complicated: a governor (Jibola Dabor) is missing, his kidnap ordered by his own son (Timini Egbuson). The police officers (Bisola Aiyeola and Funke Akindele) tasked with protecting him will have to find him before they are implicated, and to do this they must track down Chinedu (JKA Swanky) and Broda Shaggi (Broda Shaggi), the ordinary men who stumbled on the kidnapped governor and now want a ransom to release him. Broda Shaggi maintains the same slapstick comedy role from his Instagram account that he’s brought with him to every movie, so is it really worth noting what his character’s name here is?

We need to talk about Broda Shaggi as what must be the most stereotypical actor in present day Nollywood, but perhaps some other time. In Dwindle, as annoying as his character is, I cannot imagine how drab the movie would be if he wasn’t there. For a film to convince its audience to suspend reality and close its eye to lapses in story, it must have either a captivating story, mind-numbing comedy, or both. Dwindle doesn’t come close to either, though it makes bold attempts at both. Multiple isolated threads of story are tied together by the kidnapped governor, with some main characters only interacting for the first time in its third act. This collision of characters and stories, though, is not handled well enough.

For comedy. As many Nigerian movies befuddlingly do, Dwindle employs a couple of comics in Broda Shaggi and Greg Ojefua and does not give them the scripts they need to shine, so that a lot of clownery is needed from the actors to produce a little laughter. Greg’s character is a landlord that needs his rent so badly he will threaten his tenants with a shotgun and throw their things out in the street. His tenant is Chinedu, our main focus, who between this, losing his job (on his first day), a girlfriend he wants to marry, and his father’s health problems, is clearly in a financial pit. His friend/ housemate/ brother? (their relationship is not defined), Broda Shaggi is here to provide, in addition to comic relief, a dark voice. Think of him as the devil on the left shoulder on cartoon characters. As Chinedu’s increasing financial problems push him further into worry, Broda Shaggi will suggest one bad idea after the other and it is left for Chinedu to resist these suggestions and win the clean way.

At another end, we have two police officers charged with protecting a governor, a task at which they fail spectacularly. The rest of the movie sees them constantly moving as they chase leads to track him down, while they avoid capture themselves from senior police officers who hold them responsible. One scene in particular sees their escape from the policemen holding them, and they are able to pull this off with their feminine charm. They convince their captors to pull over, with promises of coitus hanging over, but once the car is parked, rather than fulfill this promise, they use the opportunity to -no they didn’t escape. They actually pushed out the men and made away with the vehicle. It’s one of the (many) scenes you’ll need to suspend your common sense for and it’ll provide comic relief, but not for the intended reasons. 

Dwindle is a missed opportunity, with many missed opportunities in it. The scene above, like many others, could have been written much better. And if it couldn’t, then it should have been made funnier, because, as mentioned earlier, ramp up the comedy and an audience may forgive you for a plothole or two. To do neither, however, is sad. And that is the takeaway from Dwindle. It commits to a thrilling story which it doesn’t properly execute. It promises comedy which it doesn’t script. The end result – just sad.