Synopsis: Palava tells the story of a high-life musician in the middle of a resurgence, whose life and family are turned upside down when a scandal is revealed on the eve of his 60th birthday.
Palava: The Cast
- Neo Akpofure
- Chinedu Ikedieze
- Gideon Okeke
- Omawunmi Megbele
- Eniola Badmus
- Jemima Osunde
- Iyabo Ojo
- Mercy Aigbe
- Segun Arinze
- Richard Mofe-Damijo
- Linda Ejiofor
- Beverly Naya
- Bisola Aiyeola
Palava: The Crew
Directed by: Niyi Akinmolayan
Palava: The Review
Palava is a slapstick movie and does try to hide it. While it has a good story line, the subplots are all over the place, and the resolution of the conflicts is so rushed, you wonder if they had focused so much on the laughter, and while on set, they realized they did not craft an ending and did a rushed job.
The movie has some good parts. The costume and cinematography are good, the casting is appropriate, and there are some comedic timings. To enjoy Palava, though, you need an extra-large dose of suspension of belief.
Abisola Aiyeola is such a good actor; her facial expressions are a joy to behold. One can shoot a movie solely based on her facial expressions. In her role in Palava, she is the quintessential first child of the family, who inevitably becomes the parent, especially with an irresponsible father.
Omawumi Megbele bodies the role of the old Benin aunt. Her heavily accented pidgin is refreshing and her aging is very good.
Beverly Nanya is stiff in this movie, which is not very different from her usual way of acting. I wish she gets a director that would allow her to dig deep; I believe we still don’t get the best from her.
RMD is a great actor any day, but I believe he did not give a 100% performance in this movie. The other actors give us an okay performance, but the movie rambles a lot.
Palava centres on the life of a musician, Osage (played by RMD), but we truly never see him sing. The few times he is singing on stage, it is obvious that it is a voice-over. Tade Ogidan produced Madam Dearest more than 20 years ago, with a full soundtrack album, and RMD sang in it, so we know what his singing voice sounds like. The least the director could have done was ensure proper lip syncing; this is a major drawback in the movie.
The resolution of the subplots has me wondering what is going on. In a bid to give a twist, the premises of the resolutions are implausible. How does someone take sperm from a man and hand same over to another woman to impregnate herself? It does not look like any medical person was consulted for that part. The Internet could have given a better consultation. How can three people holding a crowd at gunpoint be disarmed by people holding mere clubs and machetes?
The movie focuses more on the costume, locations, and laughter, and forgets to give a proper and plausible conflict resolution.
Nollyrated Score for Palava
2/5 – Sub Par Movie
NollyRated uses a 5-level scoring system, as follows:
- Poor
- Sub Par
- Okay/Good
- Great
- Outstanding
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