Big Love

Big Love is the story of Adil (Timini Egbuson), a young man from a well to do family who falls in love with Adina (Bimbo Ademoye) while away at a banking camp. While Adil is head-over-heels in love with Adina, Adina restrains herself and appears unwilling to commit. At the end of the camp they are both posted to different locations. Adina goes to Ibadan while Adil goes to Abuja. Adina plans it this way so that they can both return to their “realities”. When Adil forces a transfer to Ibadan for himself, he soon discovers that this ‘reality’ she speaks of is a 3-year-old son named Jayden. Adil immediately adores the child and they are soon concerned about how to convince his wealthy family to accept a single mother.

At the end of the movie, a case is made about how the main conflict stemmed from Khareema (Jaiye Kuti), Adil’s mother, and her tendency to be unaccepting of single mothers. Apparently, Khareema made life hard for her sister Khafil (Shaffy Bello) when she was a young single mother but this point is not expanded on enough for the whole movie’s arc to be dependent on it. Prior to this information (at the end of the movie), the only knowledge we have of Khareema is that of an overbearing mother who despite her overbearingness still shows kindness. At least that’s the predominant feeling one gets when a mother overhears that her son has impregnated a woman and forces him to do the right thing instead of telling him to abandon the woman for being ‘loose enough to get pregnant before marriage’.

There are many moments of story lapses like this within the movie and it is what prevents it from going past an okay movie into one that is memorable. Big Love shines in little moments here and there and little slivers of brilliance that shines through and tugs at the audience’s hearts. But as a cohesive whole, there are many lapses. The transitions from scene to scene often feel sudden and don’t flow into one another. The way music is used in scenes and the introduction of said music is not always fluid either and occasionally breaks the audience harshly away from the prior scene as they try to introduce a new scene.

One thing Biodun Stephen is almost always brilliant at is capturing relationship dynamics in small chunks. This is the most obvious in that opening scene and how it is written, casted, directed and choreographed such that one can sense the sheer love and togetherness of the family. From scene one alone, character personalities are established and the family dynamics are painted without much effort.

I wish same could be said about the development of the romance between Adil and Adina. For some reason, while both actors clearly do good work, something about the moments don’t strike a strong enough cord. The duo of Timini and Bimbo are reunited for the second time after an unforgettable performance in Breaded Life. However, something about this romance, its establishment, and its ways are not quite as engaging or endearing as the former. The dialogues are written in a cliched manner, the lines are exactly what you would expect, and the conflicts between the lovers are the same thing over and over again.

Ironically, for a love story of a movie the love story that stays with you afterwards is not the love between the couple but the love amongst family members. From Jaiye Kuti to Shaffy Bello and Kalu Ikeagwu as well as Deza the Great, each actor is well suited to bring to life their character in the ways that they are written. Some characters here (Deza and Kalu) do not even have as many lines but their presence is felt in each scene in which they are present and they make a statement about their character’s stance on whichever issue is ongoing without even saying a word. The character of Papa, played by Kalu Ikeagwu, is one that would be the singular reason for me to rewatch this movie. There’s something about the way he commands the room without saying much and the way his character is uplifted further by the way the other actors portray their characters around me.

The sister duo of Jaiye Kuti and Shaffy Bello is simply effervescent here. They light up every single scene and this is not simply because every fabric they were glitters. It is the energy they bring to the screen. They understand their characters and deliver them in a manner that makes you wish you had a sibling bond.

All in all, Big Love, is a conglomeration of different pieces that work spectacularly well interspersed with pieces that look shoddily thrown in there. The dialogues sometimes could use some help but on the other hand the cinematography in certain scenes is breath taking. It wins almost as often as it stumbles but that family unit will stay with you long after the movie is over.