Water And Garri Movie by Tiwa Savage Review

It has been ages since I did one of these, even as I have been tempted to write on multiple movies over the last few months.

Anyway, I’m trying to sharpen my pen again, so, I thought to use the newly released Water and Garri. This movie was released yesterday, Friday, the 10th of May, on Prime Video. If you haven’t seen it, don’t be in a rush to. Without further ado, let’s get into the meat of things

Movie Title: Water and Garri
Cast: Tiwa Savage, Andrew Yaw-Bunting, Jemima Osunde, Mike Afolarin.
Director: Meji Alabi
Run Time: 1 h. 20 mins.

SYNOPSIS:

A young lady, who has been estranged from home, returns after the death of a relative. She meets a community much different from what she left behind and has to familiarise herself with what is now home.

MY REVIEW:

Hmm… Well, as I have learnt, we must first start with the good in any production. With Water and Garri, some of the good I noticed was with the cinematography. Every shot was very colourful, but not in an offensive way, more like an artsy way. The location and settings were also very good, and aligned with what I assume the cinematographer was going for as regards the general look of the movie. The costuming was also good, with the fabrics matching the same theme as the setting; colourful and artsy. The soundtrack was awesome. Every single song that came on was a bop and you could see Tiwa’s touch in the production. Another great point was how good all the actors looked, from Tiwa to Jemima, Andrew, Mike, and the other street thug who was in a rivalry with Andrew’s character, Kay. The only unattractive cast was the police officer, which is understandable, as those people are not known to be appealing to look at anyway.

That being said, ladies and gentlemen, let’s enter the muddy waters. It is often said that na from Wednesday you go know as weekend go dey, this too, is true with movies. From the trailer, you can almost tell if the movie will be an easy watch or a hard watch. With Water and Garri, the trailer left nothing to desire, and the movie pretty much carried on with the same passionless state.

Tiwa’s opening voice over set the tone for what was to be a rather drab watch. It lacked enough oomph to capture attention, and the rest of the movie followed suit. It is a short watch, which is possibly why it looked more like a short film or a music video than the feature length it is supposed to be. The acting was quite pedestrian, despite what I assume to be the best efforts of all the actors involved, but that is just one of the many wrongs.

The movie is set somewhere Tiwa calls “home”, but brethren, we are unsure of where ‘home’ is. Is it Ghana, where the movie was shot? Is it Nigeria, where the lead actress is from? The use of language leaves us a bit confused. Perhaps, East side, the fictional city in the movie, is simply a melting pot of different African communities. Not only do we hear Tiwa converse in Yoruba to multiple persons, we also hear a character speak Fante, a Ghanaian language, but perhaps, the most confusing thing in the choice of language in this movie, is the very unplaceable pidgin. Everyone who spoke the language sounded unsure of how it was to be spoken, which is so odd for native speakers. It was all over the place.

There is something to be said of the random rivalry between Kay (Yaw-Bunting) and the other nameless thug, which brings me to another thing that was off; there was no proper fleshing of characters- their interests, their motivations, their goals. We just had random stuff thrown at us at every curve. Why is Aisha (Savage) back home to support a friend whose cousin died 3 months ago? Is that a strong enough reason to return after years of being away? Some would argue not, especially as 3 months had passed anyway. Stephany (Osunde) seemed bubbly enough through most of the movie, so, she clearly didn’t need this support Aisha was bringing. Is it not also convenient that the emotional supporter was hopping on a bike at the first sight of her old time lover, who she had been trying to dodge just moments earlier? All this, on the same day you arrived from a long trip from the abroad?

There was absolutely nothing to like in Aisha, or dislike. She just seemed like a drab, uninspiring character. A pretty girl. That was all the character gave. Why would you write a character that makes the audience feel nothing?

If Mike Afolarin had missed his flight to Ghana, and they had given his role to a random teenager walking down the street in Accra, we would have noticed nothing different. That was how mediocre Mide (Afolarin) was as a character. No boundaries pushed, no vim. Just Mike Afolarin and his divinely-carved features (which, we honestly can’t complain about, but still…)

Through the early parts of the movie, we kept hearing, “East Side” has changed, and it was supposed to give off the idea that it had gotten worse than it was before Aisha left, but we never quite see that from any of the flashbacks. It seemed like a dead town from flashbacks, and the present still makes it seem like a hopeless town.

Honestly, there is a lot to be said of this movie and how much it veered away from the bullseye it aimed for, but that is a story for many many days. I actually liked the spin on the actual killer of Mide, and even though I had stated minutes earlier that the only conclusion I’d accept for this movie was a befitting end to the killer, I still got a nice kick from that end.

If you’re watching, you may not be as patient to reach the end, but it is a rather short film in comparison to most today, so, you may as well just conclude it.

Water and Garri was as bland as water and Garri without sweeteners. I had no expectations, so, there was little room for disappointment. Would I recommend this movie to anyone? No. Would I recommend the soundtrack? Yes.

Rating: 3/10

Have you seen this movie? If yes, what would you rate it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y1hT_50FrE?si=kbqGg5BcXcUojQmn