Call Of My Life was part of my Saturday hangout with my friend and what a time. I went in expecting nothing but cringe romcom stuff that was mushy but still cringe. And boy was I served in full.

First of all, the absolute brilliance of the cinematography! I loved loved the colours! And it must take a mean and intentional feat to make Lagos look scenic and romantic. From the very first scene, I was drawn in. Her birthday surprise for Odogwu Kalu and his reaction to the boys wondering who was at the shop? Typical business conscious Igbo man. Then, I have to salute the logistics team. How did they manage the CMS scene? How???? The navigation! The irritating demands they must have met in the hands of omo oniles? Giant thumbs up to the crew and everybody involved. You people are the MVPs.

I also love the transport setting mostly showing the blue rail train which was nice, because even though average Lagosian hops buses. What kind of love story happens inside a smelly, noisy, janky Danfo bus? And this is whimsy and whimsy is not meant to be realistic so thanks for that!

I love how we often see Sol going home for a reset and her home is somewhere in the countryside, as someone who wishes she could fly home to Ilorin on a whim, I appreciate the significance of the home scenes with her parents. For clarity, for reset, for healing. I love the supportive parents angle, extra supportive even, and the banter she has with them. They were truly her safe space. So refreshing and sweet to see.

And Sol gives super smart, her face alone is brilliant. I am happy they did not put her in glasses because that would be doing extra extra for her smart ass looking self. She gives a self-assured, deep, smart-thinking girl and when I saw Eli gifting her Dream Count by Chimamanda Adichie, Odeluwa! I was like:

Again, I want to reemphasize the scenery and colourfulness of COML. I really loved it. It was intentional and there was a warmth to the movie in itself. I truly loved it. I kept going on and on about it. It was enjoyable and warm. There was also so much green, thumbs up to the location manager and production because that was truly intentional. Although I was fearing for Sol and Eli’s safety when they were on a mountain or hilltop professing fondness for each other. Abeg o, in this bandits era no one should replicate. It is things like that you see the disclaimer: This stunt is performed by trained professionals, please do not try at home. So for whoever may be considering replicating it, HELLO?! GET DOWN!

Now, with Soluchi, why did we stop seeing anything about her work life after she started getting courted by Eli? Even her promotion just came gbam! So, after her meeting with Mr. Beecroft she was offered a promotion while Broda Shaggi was sacked but how did that happen? What led to her promotion and Broda Shaggi getting sacked? I really hated that we were left to figure that out on our own.

And Ezekiel’s reference to him being the one to sort his way out in life and not having parents to run to on weekends. So, is this referencing Ezekiel being an orphan or his parents being poor because Soluchi’s parents didn’t give upper middle class either. And I wished we could get insight and clarity into how she gets home and how convenient it is for her, instead of us just suddenly seeing her at her parents’ house. We shouldn’t be made to assume. And Eli being hard of hearing leading to his sacking is so weird. I get it is a Romcom and a large chunk is unrealistic, but for a top perfomring employee who was initially praised by their supervisor, him just getting yanked off just like that. Uhmmmmm why? I guess we will never know.

And Mr. Eli, I am wondering about that scene where he was just casually walking somewhere under some bridge along Ikorodu road wearing mustard yellow, as an answer to Sol’s prayer. Where was he wandering to? What were we meant to do with that? There was even no interaction, and to think Sol didn’t reach out to him after that either. Until suddenly something something he was moving to Ghana before she started chasing after him. I am not understanding Ghana is in our backyard, uhm, maybe not typically, but Ghana is not Timbuktu so uhm, what’s with the chasing chasing inside the airport? But what is a romcom without a lover coming in unannounced on a wedding day to profess undying love and hoping it is not too late, or chasing down a lover at the airport before their plane took off.

And the costumes, I appreciate the intentionality and the colours, but the tights and platform shoes with clashing colours. Kilode? Kilosele gangan? What happened to her cute flouncy gowns? I am wondering whether costumes started out wanting to keep her colourfully Nigerian and at some point decided to make her Ugly Betty with the clashing outfit choices. 

There are other areas I wished were tightened and given more depth. Ezekiel and Eli’s connection, and then Sol’s best friend Zimuzo, yeah yeah, cool gal Zimuzo but the friend felt mostly like a background character rather than an integral part of the story, which was why her having tickets to Johnny Drille’s concert and Eli appearing there to ask Sol to be his girlfriend was nyeh. You guys already professed to each other at the airport. And puhlease, what was the whole point of the deep breathing, almost kissing, staring into each other’s eyes stuff? I have seen somewhere that Kdramas adopt this a lot and I figured it must be what is often referred to as a slow burn but ni kinni? Kizz and let uz see road nah. 

And see, what was the point of the scene where she was sniffing her pink pant? Come on. Is it meant to give us an insight into her character? If so, pink cotton pant-wearing Sol giggling to herself that her panties smell like perfume presented her as childish and not whimsical, which was the grouse of her issue with Kalu.

ANYWAYS, I REALLY really loved the intentionality behind the story. It was so obvious despite the lack of cohesion in some parts of the execution. Which is to stay true to yourself and not stop being whimsy, romantic. Appreciate the beauty and the joy in everything. Well done to the crew.