Imagine a tray of carefully stacked smoked fish falling from the head of a street hawker. All that delicious fish, falling in slow motion. In that moment you can imagine the smoky fishy flavour, perhaps even smell its delicious aroma, then it all crashes to the floor in an unmitigated waste of potential. If you have imagined it, then you might have just watched a summary of this Kayode Kasum-directed comedy. This time though, it is a comedy/crime/thriller, one that tells the too-well-known poor man’s get rich quick story with a twist and alongside co-director and scriptwriter Dare Olaitan.
Is it a remarkable one? A flop? The perfect in-between on its way to disasterdom?
Dwindle is the story of Chinedu (Jide Kene Achufusi), a tired young man, going through a series of unfortunate events, Buta (Samuel Perry) who brings him nothing but trouble and two rude female police officers Tolani (Funke Akindele) and Juliet (Bisola Aiyeola).
Officer Tolani and Juliet are charged with a mission to protect the Governor of Dakawa State (Jibola Dabo). Unfortunately, he is kidnapped on their watch and they are accused of this crime. Nedu and Buta’s lives take devastating turns as they stumble upon the kidnapped governor and over the next couple of days, a succession of unfavourable incidents befall them.
Swindle official trailer. Credit: YouTube | Ahine Arthur
What stands out the most about this movie is the scriptwriter’s comical way of linking strangers, each with a different need and goal, to the same mission by chance.
Another applaudable aspect is the acting. Funke Akindele played her role as Tolani with a certain naturality that did not lose her personality in the theatrics, she maintained her serious look as a police officer while delivering some laughs here and there. It is noteworthy that every actor in this film stands out in their roles, even down to the character who spoke the least words, an assassin, Mary Chukwuma has a commanding screen presence.
The humour in this screenplay is not half bad. It serves as the yin to the yang, it works well with the storyline and somewhat complements the movie, the half that makes a whole, as it is often said.
With all that has been said, Dwindle has some flaws that could not help rearing their not-so-pretty heads.
The film felt a little too much like every other movie Kayode Kasum directs. It had elements of both Ponzi and Sugar Rush, which felt all too familiar in character casting and acting and not in a good way. Fantastic potential in the mix that isn’t fully realised.
The dialogue in this movie at some point started to feel less like conversations and more like pop-culture references. In some scenes, it did not feel like the actors were conversing at all, it had more of a feel of random people chattering, great for background noise but not exactly furthering the plot, you know, the one job dialogue has to fulfill?
There is also the case of too many names and faces. It felt as though the directors were trying to fit one too many characters into the run-time of the movie, characters who just weren’t necessary. A perfect example is the character of Lateef Adedimeji (Fuka). It feels like a case of too many cooks spoiling a well-intended broth.
And, of course, there’s the honourable mention of Nollywood’s tendency of adding irrelevant scenes to a movie. Dwindle certainly contributed its share.
Sure Dwindle has its fair share of flaws but those flaws do not make it any less funny or entertaining. A train wreck, maybe, but an entertaining one, nonetheless. Check it out on Netflix and thank us later.
Didi Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
