A look at Teniola Olatoni’s The New Normal
Finally, the Nigerian movie industry and cinema goers have welcomed one of the anticipated movies of the year. ‘The New Normal’, a new movie by Teniola Olatoni, tells the story of a single mother who battles to save her career and only son from crashing, and friends trying their best to keep up appearances and escape societal pressure and family upheaval with their hilarious and always surprising results.
As well, the138-minute movie is an interesting and compelling story of admitting one’s failures and taking responsibility for one’s actions, with a stunning cinematography centrepiece and outstanding performances from some of Nigeria’s finest actors.
It will be safe to say that when Teniola Olatoni teams up with an amazing writer like Tunde Babalola and involves Mercy Johnson-okojie, Enado Odigie, Femi Jacobs, Yemi Blaq, Meg Otanwa, Richard Mofe Damijo, Kehinde Bankole, as ensemble cast, then some wonderful stuff is going to happen on screen.
The New Normal is all about risks and chances, as four couples and a single friend challenge each other to flout society in this story about individual and collective issues of discrimination, misogyny, addiction, mental health, infertility and nepotism.
The couples are all different from each other in every way possible but somehow find themselves bound together. It is not just a funny film, but also gripping and thought-provoking. The New Normal deals with some important topics, which can be triggering for some people, yet portrayed with such conviction that it seems real.
At its best, the movie operates like a first-rate box office offering, complete with slamming doors, twisty plots, intricately strung together jokes, stellar acting and punch lines give this movie momentum and charm that win viewers over even if they are not laughing.
The New Normal is also the best-cast movie of the return to box office season. Mercy Johnson- Okojie is the star actress of the feature and gives the viewer many reasons to see this. Johnson- Okojie, who has been frequently brilliant in her film appearances in the last decade, brings the same prickly intelligence to her role here. Femi Jacobs is a rarity, a brilliant actor with a gift for interpreting any role, while Bankole, the most complex of the characters, manages to find a subtle layer in Ejiro’s character flaw.
The producers anticipate that inevitable moment when happiness seems doomed. Another reason to see the movie is because the cast is large, well-chosen and diverting. The performances remain strong as the characters are taken through more than the usual paces.
As well, the movie tells real stories, as the producers have managed to keep the audience laughing while becoming the leading fictional forum for addressing real issues.