Jude Martin’s Review of Omoni Oboli’s film ‘Okafor’s Law’

Okay! So finally, the legal battle took a swerve when Justice Ibrahim Buba lifted his ban on the exhibition of the film. I happened to witness the heat firsthand, but won’t go into details of all that, as I deem it unnecessary in the context of what I am to write. However, we can validate the fact that bad publicity is indeed good publicity.

This was evident in how the awareness of the film practically doubled after the 24th of March when unpaid social media platforms publicised the court ban on the exhibition of Okafor’s Law.

Many people indeed got to know about its scheduled release date from those posts. Fingers crossed, film lovers were anxious to know the big deal about the film that attracted such huge a controversy.

Little wonder why the large turnout in its opening weekend. Noteworthy is the frustration felt by cinema goers who got stranded on its release day, after hearing that the film was yet to arrive at some cinemas (due to the confiscation of the first copies en route cinemas; following the court order).

Enough said about all that, let’s dive into details;

The film  tells the story of a young man who had a bet with his two bosom friends over proving a law known as Okafor’s Law. This holds that once a man has had sex with a woman and did it remarkably well (such that she enjoyed it), he could have sex with her again irrespective of the circumstances of their break up or of the woman’s status when they later meet.

In the experimental process he falls in love with one of the women chosen as a specimen and the flow goes sore. The film’s genre can be classified as romance and drama.

I will spell out my parameters for review;
– Cinematography
– Casting
– Scripting
– Plot

Cinematography
I have seen the film three (3) times on three (3) different cinema screens (One being the IMAX at Filmhouse Lekki). The picture and sound quality was great. The editing was near perfect with an exception of a quirky sound I heard repeatedly at the middle of the film. At the beginning (where Blossom jogged on Lekki bridge), the attempt to balance His voice volume over MI’s Chairman song did not come out perfectly, however it was not alien to Nollywood’s standards. But for the pictures to appear as sharp as they did on the IMAX screen (despite not being mastered as an IMAX content), I can say kudos to the editor. The drone aerial shots were also fantastic sights to behold. On cinematography it is 8/10 for me.

Casting
The cast selection was near perfect. I only had a little challenge with Halima Abubakar’s mechanical approach to her first scene. It was so obvious she had a hard time memorizing that part of the script and synchronizing spoken words with body language. The rest of the acts did justice to their roles; my best being Gabriel Afolayan. He nailed every part of it; covering up for a few of Ken Eric’s predictable “nwa teacher” approach to his dialogues.
Next to Gabriel for me was Blossom. I particularly fell in love with the speaking in tongues and the “Sister Ejiro…” after the sex. Then, the maestro himself – RMD killing it as the “full area…” in his confrontation with Chuks. Generally, I will give the casting a 7/10. The declines will be attributed to a few hiccups with Halima Abubakar and Kemi ‘Lala’ Akindoju. Please someone should give her a more serious role next time – to allow her an opportunity to prove she is not overrated.

Scripting
When Omoni Oboli said she wrote the script, I chose to see the movie first before concluding. This is because I saw The First Lady and Wives on Strike and from them, I can say a lot about her prowess. I don’t really think that the dialogues of the Okafor’s Law script I saw, were the best for such a story. However, Omoni is undoubtedly getting better by the day.
She just needs to put it more reality into her dialogues. I believe the smoothness of the movie should be attributed to the cast and not the dialogues. A less professional crew would have messed it up big time…. All the same I celebrate Omoni Oboli. At scripting, I will say 6/10.

Plot (Spoiler alert).

We all know that the story is an everyday one – Guys in da hood betting that a click member can’t do girl(s) and the guy takes steps to prove them wrong. However, Omoni made it special by aligning the everyday plot with Okafor’s Law – that I consider a brilliant approach. Everything went smoothly, except placing Ejiro’s reaction to Chuks on his way to meet up with Ify (Chief Omeni’s Wife) – before her call to him on wedding plans. That was definitely not super.

Also why did Tomi have to meet them at the end where Chuks went to test his wedding suit? That simply insinuated that she was right to infer at first that Ejiro wanted her out of the way, so that Chuks would be hers…

Anyway, generally speaking, it was a good way to plot an everyday story; the projectile flow is worth applauding. The film succeeded in proving box office worthy through scenes that were quiet entertaining. Kudos Omoni! – 7/10.

Our film industry is fast evolving and things are getting really better; Okafor’s Law happens to be a big proof of that. So if you haven’t seen it, go grab your tickets and let me know what you think.