Film review: ‘Flower girl’ is a charming, delightful romp

by Wilfred OkicheFlower-Girl-Official-Poster

For Nollywood, the romantic comedy sub-specialty has enjoyed a burst of life in recent times. After gems like ‘Keeping faith’ and ‘Letters to a stranger’, had us believing, the scene was quiet for a while and then bam! ‘Phone Swap’ and ‘The Meeting’ breathed new life in what some would refer to as a tired genre.

Tired because these movies aren’t the most difficult to make and they perpetuate the same happily-ever-after ending, most times odious from the very first scene. A charming script, pretty, convincing leads and a capable director should be more than enough to churn out out a movie that gets the job down. No more, no less.

Michelle Bello’s ‘Flower girl’ more than gets the job done. It is a refresher course on how to make visually exciting movies that appeal to other senses. She has gathered a cast of leads that are easy on the eyes (Damilola Adegbite, Chris Attoh, Chuks Chukwujekwu), a sharp screenplay by Jigi Bello (‘Shooter’, ‘The waiting room’) and in her very capable hands, transforms what could have easily been just another love story into a film with soul. And heart. And flowers. Lots of flowers.

Kemi (Adegbite) is a shy but forward florist who works mostly at weddings. She also wants to get married yesterday and as everyone knows, trouble is a woman with marriage on her mind. All she succeeds in doing is scaring her already spineless boyfriend (Tinsel’s Attoh) into not proposing to her and in her desolation, is hit by a car driven by Tunde Kulani (Chukwujekwu), a major movie star who found fame starring in cheesy B-List movies.

Having marked her time on the set of ‘Tinsel’ and with the film ‘6 hours to Christmas’ in her resume, Damilola Adegbite is the industry’s worst kept secret. She was born to be a leading lady and her presence leaves you wondering why there hasn’t been more of her on the big screen. With her huge, expressive eyeballs, beautiful face and banging body (which gets its own shine time), she is a magnet that draws audiences instantly to her cause. Her version of Kemi is shy, needy, demanding and vulnerable all at once. Ms Bello and her cinematographer light her up well so she can light up the screen in turn, though we must add that we aren’t fans of her accent which is inconsistent at best.

The chemistry with her costar, newbie Chuks Chukwujekwu (also of ‘Tinsel’) is instant and electric and translates directly to the audience. With a handsome face atop an imposing physique and backed by a decent interpretation of his arrogant movie star shtick, he also makes his case for a viable future as leading man.

In his bid to get rid of Kemi, whose appearance is a bit low brow for his big movie star tastes, they come up with a plan that will make Kemi’s ex Umar (Chris Attoh, sturdy in a thankless role) come back crawling on his knees. This plan indirectly involves both Kemi’s best friend ( the wonderfully quirky Bikiya Graham Douglas who steals every scene she appears in) as well as Kulani’s bestie/old flame/resurgent love interest played by  ‘Studio 53’s’ Eku Edewor. Miss Edewor ‘s stunning beauty is asked to show up, look great and do not much else and while she does just that, in her last scene, she goes beyond the call of duty and provides one of the funniest moments of the film.

Bello’s breezy direction is as much a star of ‘Flower girl’ as the hardworking actors. The beautiful sets, charming use of flowers and vibrant Lagos scenery is a testament to her skillful handling of the material. The product placements and shout outs are tastefully done and kept to a minimum although those L’espace girls certainly don’t help their cause if the treatment meted out to Kemi is the norm for them. She observes current pop culture tendencies and although there is far too much Lynxx and too much Wizkid on the soundtrack, Efya’s ballad is a welcome addition.

Most directors balk at trying out physically demanding stunts, resulting in many of our films being long on talk and short on action but Bello is unafraid to have her actors pull some stunts that stretch them and give more credibility to the ‘’movieness’’ of her film. In one scene, she has Chukwujekwu physically drag a barely clothed Adegbite; kicking and sceaming across the floor. The fight scenes (man on man) and a particular brilliant cat fight are also thrown in for good measure.

Bello seems to have a thing for night vision though as a lot of scenes were set at night and audiences may find it a stretch having to dilate their eyeballs to accommodate all the darkness. Patrick Doyle returns to the screen and while he is ebullient as usual, his role is a bit of a caricature.

Before long, Kemi is in the familiar position of having to pick between two great looking men (in cinema, that’s a really really big deal) and if her decision is a tad predictable, the journey to it definitely isn’t.

Everyone comes out of ‘Flower girl’ looking good and this isn’t something that happens often.

Wilfred Okiche tweets from @drwill20

 

 

Comments (2)

  1. Letters to Stranger? Are you a learner? That was a film full of holes.

    1. Your brain is full of holes if you think that is relevant to this review.

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