PAGE 36- the movie review

As part of our services on these pages we do movie reviews and make recommendations for you. We have alligned with Nollywood Critics USA and will once in a while bring you reviews of our local movies and those ones that come from the diaspora.Today we are kicking it off with Dr. Victor Olatoye's review of  Don Okolo and Prince Ulasi's PAGE 36. those are not names you have heard before, Don't worry they are working from the USA

Don Okolo and Chris Ulasi’s “Page 36” opens with musical performances by Dr. Sango, Marisa, Kaka and Tarr. Who are these people and is “Page 36” a musical? No, that is to warm you up and get you prepared for a unique film out of Houston. Is “Page 36” a good film? If I gave you the verdict, then you wouldn’t need to read the review would you?

 

Dr. Sango played by Perez Egbi (Black Roses, The Land) is a wealthy sex addict and gets sexually charged by one of his housemates Marisa played by Merlisa “Determined” Langellier (Black Roses, As I die Slowly, The Land) before he invites the six most powerful (as he puts it) couples in the country (we actually do not know which country, but it is fair to assume it is Nigeria) to his home for a chance to win two hundred million dollars. What they have to do to win this obscene amount of money is on “Page 36” and you must read on.

“Page 36” plays more like one of Shakespeare’s plays and at first the characters appear to be reading out of a book, but eventually get the hang of it.

Dr. Sango briefs his guests on how to play the game to win and warns them against fleeing. My favorite quote: “You play to live or die trying”______Dr. Sango (Page 36)

The set-up contains a fundamental double-cross that I dare not reveal, and that will make it a little hard to discuss certain other aspects of the story. Perhaps selected details will give you the flavor. But I would not even dare grant you that luxury.

The film also contains a character Marisa who is Dr. Sango’s playmate, a woman with a heart of stone. In this film there are also action gags involving severed throats, blackmail and kidnapping.

We also have a two-timing dame named Kaka (Erica Patterson), a sex addict aid Tarr (Curtis Von), a wealthy Alhaji Banka (J.D. Laguerre) and an even a richer one Dr. Sango (Perez Egbi).

Dr. Sango has a whimsical charm, a way of standing outside material like this and grinning at it. Oh, he's earnest and angry, but inside, there's a grin. His fundamental personality is devilish--he's a satirist--and he only rarely makes an effort to hide that side.

Marisa has a sense of style, too and we get the sense that "Page 36'' is interested in both style and story; it wants to take a criminal's revenge and make it the story of a guy whose mission edges into monomania. Dr. Sango wants exactly what was taken from him and much more; even if that include the guests’ wives. I tell you this guy should be the spoke person for Viagra. Come to think of it he actually mentioned it in one of his conversations with Tarr.

Not many people know what their life's worth not until their loved ones are asked that question and a choice would have to be made between cold cash or your life. Mr. Adeyemi leaves the wife behind and wants a chance to live another day. In a nicely done scene minutes later Marisa kisses the trunk of a car containing the remains of the coward whose stupid decisions lead to wasted life when his loyalty turned into betrayal; and to the gang in “Page 36” that is punishable by death.

The film does not hide the fact that the main character named Dr Sango, is a bad guy. Dr. Sango has that fake charm, except that his fearsome temper can explode in a second, with fatal consequences.

Performances:

Actors have a way of doing their best work - the work that lets us see them clearly – in “Page 36” film Perez Egbi emerged as a good actor." Merlisa Langellier, playing Perez Egbi’s playtoy created a performance of comparable complexity. Both Prez and Merlisa are here in "Page 36," essentially playing major and very challenging roles who establish themselves here as clearly two of our best up and coming new movie actors in Nollywood USA. Rosalyn Bertrand, here she creates the emotional center for a movie that is not about the experience of being passionate, but about feeling satisfied as the wife of a man who just got murdered. The sense of her past with Dr. Sango is at the heart of this film, especially in a scene where he thought he could fool her with the sweet words. They have made their lifetime commitment, and it was to the wrong life we see.

There was another memorable scene in “Page 36” when Kaka held Tarr against the wall she seems to be saying with the gun pointed at him “would you respect me if I didn’t have this gun? Without it I don’t get it and that is why I carry one”, and then what happened next I would not reveal.

Writing a screenplay like this essentially involves finding new bottles for old wine. Tricking the enemy is routine, but doing it in a new way is fun. Turning the tables is standard, but not when you don't expect when and how, they'll be turned. And cinematographer Seth Conway only had to work with the interior of Dr. Sango’s home, the “Hotel California” of Dr. Sango’s guests. You can only check in and checking out really means “checking out” and you know what I mean.

There is much cleverness and ingenuity in "Page 36,'' but Perez Egbi is the key. The movie wouldn't work with an actor who was too serious or was too sincere about the material. Perez who enters into violence with a bemused detachment, here he has fun as the movie goes over the top, as when he meets Sosa during the final scene and seems to recite a poem….I must stop here.

Technically speaking, the picture, audio and editing quality is very good.

VERDICT:

In Page 36 more than once in the movie, Dr. Sango’s guests and enemies try to pay him back by giving him all they had either taken from him or his father. They're missing the point. What about his little sisters? They are dead and that part is about revenge and that has no price.

Most films, even great ones, evaporate like mist once you've returned to the real world; they leave memories behind, but their reality fades fairly quickly. Not this film, which shows Nollywood's finest filmmakers at the peak of their form. No finer film has ever been made about organized crime like “Page 36”.

The directors used classical music as a counterpoint to the dramatic moments in this film. They don’t simply compile soundtracks; they find the precise sound to underline every moment, and in "Page 36," the classical music helps to explain the transition from scene to scene.

Page 36 is about revenge more than anything else. But it is not a straightforward morality play, in which good is established and revenge is the appropriate reaction toward evil. No, the “heroene” of this film did not feel guilty for what she did, to her Dr. Sango is guilty of the sin of betrayal.

What finally got to me after seeing this film - what makes it a good film - is that I understood Sosa’s feelings. It is almost possible to think, sometimes, of the characters as really being loyal. Their camaraderie is so strong, their loyalty so unquestioned. But the laughter is strained and forced at times, and sometimes it's an effort to enjoy the party, and eventually, the whole mythology comes crashing down, and then the reality - the real reality, the reality directors like Okolo and Ulasi understand intimately - is not that they did sinful things, but that they did what they had to do and would want to do them again.

Don Okolo and Chris Ulasi are the right directors - the kind of directors - for this material. They know it inside out.

Don Okolo and Chris Ulasi’s “Page 36” is one hell of an exciting movie. I wasn’t prepared for how good it really is: it’s not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking. It’s put together like a fine watch. If this is the new Houston, I am glad to say to Houstonians “Problem solved” The screenplay meticulously assembles an incredible array of material so that the story--complicated as it is--unfolds slowly and clearly.

“Page 36” plays sometimes plays like one of Shakespeare’s plays but one thing is sure and certain and that is, directors Okolo and Ulasi did not borrow “Page 36” from Nollywood playbook. “Page 36” is a slasher without the unnecessary gores, has sex scenes without nudity and that makes it is a classy film. Page 36 is a nice film, but I cannot say that about the characters. This is a unique and a well produced film from Nollywood USA. Should you buy it? Not to would be uncivilized and yes I recommend a BUY IT.

Reviewed by Dr. Victor Olatoye.
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