Nollywood director Charles Novia calls Hoodrush—starring OC Ukeje and Bimbo Akintola—a “great movie.”It
almost seems like these days whatever comes out of the mouth (or in
this case, keystrokes) of Charles Novia, it makes headlines. There were
the stories of his quarrel with Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and the tension
between Genevieve Nnaji and Stella Damasus: excerpts he culled from his
recently published memoir Nollywood Till November. And then there was
the thrashing he gave Tonto Dikeh’s twin singles.
And he’s
back—with a critique of Hoodrush, the musical thriller that was released
in cinemas throughout Nigeria on Friday, October 12. And the review,
which he posted on his Facebook page today, is glowing with praise.
Directed
by Dimeji Ajibola, Hoodrush features OC Ukeje, Bimbo Akintola, Gabriel
Afolayan, Chelsea Eze, Ijeoma Agu and Leelee Byoma.
Below is Novia’s review of Hoodrush in its entirety:
’HOODRUSH’
: AN AMBITION FULFILLED: I am not in the habit of doing critiques of
Nollywood movies, primarily for the reason that it might be misconstrued
by people in the industry as inappropriate, given the manner my past
objective critiques of personalities in the entertainment industry have
stirred up storms of needless controversy. Another reason I don’t
critique Nollywood movies is because I understand the limitations and
frustrations the principal movers of each movie pass through to put the
final output on the shelves.
However, that does not in anyway
stop me from lambasting the silly and intellectually befuddling movies
majorly churned out from the Asaba axis where professionalism is thrown
to the dogs and an alarming rate of bandwagon stories and undignified
elementary acting, coupled with laughable directing, have become the
order of the day over there. And such movies from Asaba, unfortunately,
get to be judged as the best the English sector of Nollywood have to
offer, which rubs off negatively on other hard-working personalities in
the industry. Perhaps, my using the term ‘Asaba movies’ may seem
condescending to some people. I don’t have any apologies. In English
Literature of Nigerian origins, the term ‘Onitsha Market Literature’
wasn’t well-received either but the stark realism of that genre is not
in doubt. My reservations about the Asaba movies will be addressed in
another post. I am more concerned with the feeling of exhilaration which
has enveloped me for a couple of days after watching the movie
‘HOODRUSH’.
I don’t know the Director of that movie personally,
neither have I heard of his artistic antecedents before now but as a
trained film maker and an ‘elder’ in the business, I am inclined to
stand and give a standing ovation to Dimeji Ajibola for a job well done.
I told a few of my colleagues last night that with such bright sparks
coming into the industry, there is much hope that the collective vision
of moving the industry to greater heights will be achieved. I’m not
going to give much critiques of the movie in this post. I will only
commend the great and believable acting of O.C Ukeje, who ( as I have
constantly predicted over the past couple of years) is the next Big Star
in Nollywood, putting his body of work in perspective. OC was superb in
the movie as was Gabriel Afolayan, a sibling of movie Director, Kunle
Afolayan. There was a certain and believable organic chemistry between
both guys who acted as brothers and the screen literally oozed with the
brotherly affection they had for each other.
The movie is a
musical, with great compositions of contemporary songs and both actors
delivered their singing abilities to the hilt. It is to the credit of
the Producer that he cast OC and Gabriel, both proven singers, in a
true-to-type casting which made their role interpretations very easy.
Gabriel got me in goose flesh when he made the final appearance at the
Audition scene where he sang and was able to internalize a poignant pain
from the preceding scenes which he brought out visually in that
audition scene. Wow! I’m proud of these guys!
Bimbo Akintola, an
experienced and oft-overlooked talent in Nollywood, gave the best acting
in her life for years, in my opinion. I intend to do a special tribute
to Bimbo on my Facebook page soon and much of that has been done in my
book ‘NOLLYWOOD TILL NOVEMBER’ but permit me to sing her praises a bit
here. Bimbo is the quintessential actress, the actor’s actor. I couldn’t
help but scream in pure pleasure as she delivered scene after scene
with a panache only a true thespian can achieve. I predict that Bimbo
will win the ‘Best Actress’ laurel with this movie in any of the
numerous awards in Nollywood, if the judges too are true to their sense
of appreciation. OC Ukeje and Gabriel Afolayan should also be winning
‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ too in same award ceremonies.
New
actress, Ijeoma Agu, was also fantastic in her outing. I like the fact
that the Director chose to use her as Afolayan’s love interest and
de-emphasized her passive and bland beauty for a ghetto look which she
carried admirably throughout the movie. What Ijeoma lacks in looks, she
made up impressively with her superb acting. She gave her role’s magnum
opus in the scene where she sang ‘I believe in you’ to Afolayan. There
were few dry eyes in the hall when we watched that scene.
‘
HOODRUSH’ is a great movie, despite a few lapses, very few though which I
deliberately will skip here because they are barely noticeable and also
to encourage all readers of this piece to go all out to watch this
movie, now showing in the Cinemas across Nigeria. For fulfilling the
requirements which make a good movie, the Director achieved a film
maker’s ultimate ambition; to make a good movie. I doff my hat to a
younger colleague and welcome him to the ladder of progress. May his
road not cross the Asaba movie expressway, which at this point has
lesser and horrendous destinations for the quality of Nollywood, not
quantity.
