Mokalik

Safe to say that there are two phases to the experience of watching Mokalik. First of all, there is the feeling coming from the trailer where you know that the movie is trying to do something different but you are not entirely certain what it is; and at about 30 minutes into the movie, that confusion persists then almost starts to get replaced with boredom. Then there is the second phase where you start to get an idea of the message behind the movie, the characters start to grow on you, and you welcome this world wholeheartedly.

Mokalik is the story of Ponmile, a privileged 12 year old who refuses to focus on his studies and is brought over to the mechanic yard by his father in an attempt to show him the ‘harsh realities of life’, and by so doing hopefully help him realize the importance of focusing on his studies. During his day in the yard, Ponmile goes from the tutelage of one ‘Oga’ to the next, and as he moves along we get to know more about him and the way he thinks. We find out the most about him though when he is seated with his crush (and that of the entire yard) in the person of Simi (played by singer and songwriter Simisola Ogunleye). While he is with her, we learn of his personal motivations and his preference for working with his hands as opposed to studying and taking tests. Throughout the movie, Ponmile seems constantly captivated by the planes flying past above the yard and it is clear that that is potentially a path that he might want to follow but this angle is never fully explored in the story.

Mokalik is a story that slowly builds to a grand crescendo… or should we say, an attempt at a grand crescendo. There a few factors that keep it away from arriving at the grandness that the story itself seeks and its in the little things. Little things that could have tied together better or stuck out less obviously from the body of work. For one, the constant plane references are almost left to assumptions by the end of the movie. Then there are things like the all round performance of our male lead, Tooni Afolayan. While Tooni’s brief was probably for a supposedly ‘strong head’ boy who refuses to bend to the wiles of his father, Ponmile is still much more than that. Ponmile is smart but also connects, Ponmile has a smart mouth but also thinks things through, Ponmile has heart, and Ponmile has sense enough to recognize the conflicting space he is in between his here-and-now dreams versus his traditional parents who believe in a more linear form of education. All this depth about Ponmile doesn’t come off by looking at the performance of Tooni. Granted, by the end Tooni manages to emote a bit more than he did initially, and granted Tooni is a young man acting in an industry without a lot of support for young actors, but still Tooni’s performance does leave a lot to be desired.

The best thing about Mokalik is probably the cinematography of the entire film. Without question, even in the scenes that dragged, the shots were beautiful and kept you captivated. The director also manages to build up this world in the yard so immersively and give all the characters color and a personality of their own. It’s true that not all the characters are as fully formed as the next, but the extent to which they are formed helps to build this world that will have you convinced by the end of the movie. The performances in this movie, including Simisola in her debut acting role and Charles Okocha in his forced comic insertion of all his IG skits, were fluid and convincing enough to move the story along.

It’s a different take on the coming of age story and you can’t discount the originality. It’s slow to pick up, intolerable at times and downright corny in other parts but when you see what it reaches for and you finally make it to the end, it’s worth the wait.