MY VILLAGE PEOPLE MOVIE REVIEW
Niyi Akinmolayan – Director and Producer
Bovi Ugboma – Writer and Producer
If you enjoy the supernatural themes of The Avengers, Black Panther, X-Men, and similar movies, you will definitely enjoy My Village People. It is a home-grown version of these beloved Hollywood movies, a culturally rooted and relatable movie focusing on the supernatural powers of African descent, for good and bad.
The story kicks off in the village, with a taste of regular comedy, then it takes us in a whirlwind of dark comedy and supernatural manifestations from the village to Lagos, back to the village. We are pulled into physical and spiritual encounters with dark powers involving witches and marine spirits. These are all the places and powers we jokingly call village people, when misfortunes happen. The pastors who fleece unsuspecting people seeking solutions to their problems receive their comeuppance in the movie, in hilarious and well-acted scenes.
As the writer and lead character in this movie, Bovi Ugboma shows he is not just a stand-up comedian, but an accomplished actor. His role in a previous movie, It’s Her Day, already showed us what he is capable of, and his acting here further showcases his skills. But it isn’t just him; all the actors demonstrate a clear grasp of their assignments, and they leave everything on the screen. Even those who have only cameo appearances gave a good delivery.
The movie is definitely well thought through and through; even the jokes are well-timed and take in social media culture. The movie has lots of laughter, the makeup is real, and the special effects totally believable.
One of the challenges Nollywood movies faces is appropriate makeup and seamless special effects. My Village People delivered fantastic special effects, and they are not over the top. One of my favorite special effects is the rain. The technical crew deserves special recognition for their skills in this movie.
One thing that makes movies special is the conflict resolution, and most times in Nollywood, these resolutions appear rushed, leaving a bad taste in the mouth. This movie, My Village People, gives us a very interesting plot twist that has us laughing and giving an applause, and the conflict resolution is well done, in terms of the script and the acting.
Of course, you need to suspend belief for parts of the plot of the movie, but these do not take away from the overall quality of the movie. By virtue of its nature, supernatural fantasy requires a suspension of belief.
My Village People is a movie that will have you losing your home training while watching it. But it is a pathfinder of sorts. Nollywood generally has not done a good job of making the supernatural sexy and appealing. My Village People achieves it effortlessly and deserves copious amount of praise.
The postscript scene will have you laughing out of the cinema hall, and you will find yourself breaking out in a grin each time you recall flashes of the movie.