[blockquote align=”centre” author=”EfikoScore: 7/10″ style=”font-size: 30px”] Biodun Stephen’s Breaded Life attempts to combine the intimacy of humanity with realism, and almost pulls it off. [/blockquote]
Here is Nollywood’s first experiment with the space-time paradox; or more familiarly put— “time travel.” The story is novel (at least for Nollywood), a few of the actors are decent, and the effort is ambitious. But I’m afraid these are the only positives to take from Akay Mason and Abosi Ogba’s sci-fi film, Day of Destiny.
The story follows two brothers’ attempts at rewriting their destiny to favour their present fortunes. The film begins with a meet-cupid narration of a love story. The year is 2000 and a man meets a woman at a party. They argue over a drink at the bar and fall in love immediately. The narration cuts to a present-day setting, revealing that the couple—now married with three kids—is retelling this story to their children.
It’s revealed that the family has fallen into bad times, so they have to move to the village. As they pack for the trip, the family’s oldest son, Chidi (Olumide Oworu), discovers an old photograph that shows his father in the company of the present state Governor. This instigates an argument between him and his father (Nobert Young) while they are on the trip, as he blames his father for not taking advantage of that network to amass some wealth for himself. The altercation spirals and almost results in an auto accident. The car breaks down and Chidi is sent along with his brother Rotimi (Denola Grey) to find a mechanic.
The boys wander into a white mansion and for plot convenience, Chidi somehow believes that he can find a mechanic inside the building. Once they get in, the door shuts against them and they’re jolted by Babayaro (played by Samuel Perry AKA Broda Shaggi), the resident magician who somehow convinces them to change their destiny. Reluctant at first, they eventually acquiesce and for the next sixty minutes or so, the boys and the audience are tossed into a dizzying time-travel misadventure.
Other than the primary premise of the movie, there’s nothing remotely refreshing about its execution. The makers point the audience to their attempt at highlighting the generational differences between 2020 and 2000, focusing specifically on low-hanging elements like currency and denominations. Yet, they fail woefully at the details that make the hallmark of any retro-setting in a time-travel movie. The most effort they make at costuming a younger version of their mother Ifeoma (Ini Dinma Okojie) is to throw an afro-wig on her head, in 2000. Governor Coker surprisingly looks the same during the 20-year interval even as everyone ages. A 500 Naira bill is used even though a quick google search will confirm that the denomination didn’t come out until 2001. Their now-older mother (Ireti Doyle) in the alternated reality is a red beret-wearing activist who, in her everyday life, dresses exactly as she appears on her Wikipedia page.
There are embarrassing plot-advancing subplots that happen out of sheer convenience. For example, a switched-off TV suddenly comes on to deliver a piece of plot-advancing news and goes off again, all by itself. The lead character has no motivation to saunter into the haunted mansion which sets off the major conflict of the story. Captain (Toyin Abraham) has no logical reason to give the boys decent clothes to get into the party, especially as she believes they just tried to scam her. These convenient plot drivers stretch through the entire movie.
The lead actors are remarkably terrible. Olumide Oworu doesn’t seem to be conversant with nuances, overplaying his character’s belligerence and missing all opportunities to inflect. Denola Grey is hardly an actor at all. Broda Shaggi is dragged all the way from Instagram to act as Broda Shaggi but with a different name. Tega Akpobome struggles to convince as a younger Babayaro, and Toyin Abraham brings along the insufferable lousiness archetypal of every single comic character she has ever played. There’s a totally evanescent scene where Instagram comic Mr. Macaroni (Debo Adedayo) is thrown in with his full comic regalia as a marketing ploy that has no bearing on the film’s plot.
The film does have its few glittering moments though. The older acts, Nobert Young and Ireti Doyle hold their own. Teen talent Gbemi Akinlade (Helena) holds a lot of promise, giving a much better-nuanced performance than her on-screen brothers (Olumide and Denola). There’s a genuinely fuzzy scene where Afrobeats superstar 2Baba is depicted as a lesser- known artist in the year 2000, getting acquainted with the lyrics of his future hit African Queen. It could have been better executed, but nostalgia wins the day. There’s also that scene where Captain expresses optimism for the budding democratic dispensation, parroting the promises of the government of the day about the Vision2020. The boys—from the future—laugh at the ghastly optimism. The audience joins in laughing because we currently live in the irony of the situation.
Day of Destiny trudges blindly through an unfamiliar course and lands as an unremarkable dud. But there’s a credit that goes to the vision behind the project— the brevity of trying something outside of the Nollywood convention. I hope someone else goes on this journey again, and I hope they do it better.
