A Lord Tanner Film Co. And FilmOne Production Co., present Enyinna Nwigwe (Jude), Lilian Esoro (Cynthia), Demola Adedoyin (Lanre), Hiki Omeili (Joke), Okey Uzoeshi (Dan), Adesua Etomi (Nina), Folarin Folana (Odewale), Olayode Juliana (Judith), Anyadike Onuaku (Tina). Director, Tolu Lord Tanner; Script by Tolu Awobiyi; Executive Producers, Ayo Orunmuyi/Talu Awobiyi; Director of Photography, Sunny Peters/ Saheed Apanpa. © 2016
Boy, I am suddenly missing Rita Dominic in newer films. With her luscious lips done in ruby-red lipstick and looking at us from behind those thick and natural eyelids with those big round eyes. In Nollywood, like in all places where once motion pictures traversed, the camera gets wary of the same smile, nuances, and poses of the same face. You bet personalities like Majid, Ramsey, Omotola, Stephanie, Rita, Vicker work from behind the camera and pull strings from there these days, while smoking cigars and yelling, “Action!” Hence, we don’t see much of them these Netflix days. Guess what? They are bagging up internet revenues. The audience gravitates towards newer faces like Adesua, Enyinna, Naya, Akubo, and Adeola Adefarasin.
Jude (Enyinna Nwigwe) and Cynthia (Lilian Esoro) are a couple hosting Joke (Hiki Omeili) and her husband, Lanre (Demola Adedoyin), a couple too, and Nina (Adesua Etomi) and Dan (Okey Uzoeshi) another couple for a weekend of fun and laughter. It all starts out fine: hugging and laughter and all, but soon, Lanre (The Bridge) and his wife Joke argue in secret over money and bills and loan payments due. There’s a crack in this jolly-jolly. The crack sets this picture in motion.
They have all come from the same breed. All possibly came from the same village, the same primary school, and went to different colleges across the country but came home to each other, every vacation. They have grown and married; once in a while, they meet and share the ‘good ol’ once when we were kids ‘laughter.’ We were rared that way. Societal in nature. I long for those old times too. It didn’t go well with them in a Couple of Days. It started with laughter, women in the kitchen yapping, and men watching soccer. In the end, lives were shattered, and we leave them a brooding pack of couples and a funeral. Four Weddings and A Funeral.
I shouldn’t take you around the block just so I can explain this story in toto. We have seen 4 Play Reloaded, where Majid and others play the Slackers. Those same slacker characters have graduated into husbands and wives in Couple of Days. We should think. In this movie, they are confronted with every day and every time conditions that afflict marriages. At first, Lanre’s wife Joke gossips to the female group about her bedroom affairs and later tells everyone her husband is impotent. The disclosure got Lanre withdrawn from the pack. Joke and Jude are caught kissing in the living room while Cynthia watches.
Lanre doesn’t want his wife Joke anymore. The family doctor had told Lanre his wife Joke could not have children anymore because she had aborted eight times. That had turned him off, but she interprets it as impotence. He had held it in all their marriage days, but this incident of having to kiss with his best friend brought the long-hidden secret into the open. He is done with the marriage.
Nina begs Cynthia to forgive Jude for his infidelity. She would not because Jude knows Cynthia has a mental disease, manic disorder. Cynthia has been once dangerous with their own kids; hence her parents took them in. This is the family secret she and Jude couldn’t share with anyone, that his wife is bi-polar and a maniac. Her medical condition steals away her self-confidence, which Jude will always consider. She is a mental case, and, therefore, Jude shall ever cheat with his private secretary.
Nina has a secret about her household as well. When all have brought their dirty laundry out, Nina calls them into the living room. She has a secret to tell, looking at her husband with teary eyes:
Nina, point blankly to Dan, “I know you cheated, and you have a son.”
Lanre, as everyone in the room, “What?”
Nina, “You hurt me, Dan. I found out just after we got married. And when I found out, I wanted to commit suicide…when the person you love keeps a secret away from you, you…I started to question everything. Then I realized that the only reason why you would keep a secret is that you love me. Through you, I have learned the meaning of forgiveness. I have to forgive you without even you asking for it. I cannot live without you. I cannot lose you. (Kneels in front of Dan and holds his face to her’s). I forgive you, and you can bring him home.”
The moral of this monologue is to teach her friends forgiveness for a loved one. The scene might seem staged as it is. Nina’s scene addressing Dan about his secret son seems like a recital straight from William Shakespeare. A little flat. In this same staged scene, Joke walks stealthily to Lanre and hugs him from behind, crying for forgiveness as well, “I couldn’t bring myself to tell you every detail about my past. Lanre, please forgive me.” Jude, too, receives his cue. He is smitten with guilt, face down, fumbling with his fingers. He hesitatingly walks and hugs his wife, Cynthia. She’s hysterically crying now like the other two women in the room. Later that night, Cynthia walks out on Jude, leaving a note on the nightstand. She killed herself in a motor accident.
The title of this flick is a pun. The writer is playing on words with us. In short, he is saying that, if I could rightly decipher what he is laboring with here, that life is a tragedy that could occur anywhere and at any time. They came to have fun but ended laying wreaths and flowers on Cynthia’s grave. Rain falls on every household. What one takes away from this flick is, “People don’t fall out of love, they fall out of forgiveness. ” This is not a Summer type movie. I recommend it when it is raining cats and dogs outside, and it is freezing inside. Doesn’t such weather depress you? Go figure.
Couple of Days, with no pun intended, is a “talkie.” And a burnt-out “turkey on Thanksgiving.” You got it?