Crossroads, romantic movie that fails to impress

Movie Title: Crossroads

Language: Yoruba and English

Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Release date: 2024

Streaming platform: Prime Video

Producer: Aisha Lawal

Director: Tope Adebayo, Adebayo Tijani

Casts: Aisha Lawal, Lateef Adedimeji, Deyemi Okanlawon, Bimbo Manuel, Femi Adebayo, Adebayo Salami, Yvonne Jegede, Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori, Yekini Ibrahim, Wumi Toriola, Obim Adebimpe Omooba, Boma Martins Akpore, Seyi Awolowo, Rotimi Salami, Damilare E Wilson, Temitope Iledo Topright, Mustapha Abidemi, Igbenabor Marylyn Odiwo, Martins Ogbebor.

Like they say, love happens in mysterious ways, and life is unpredictable. When we think we have it all figured out, fate keeps us on our toes.

‘Cross Roads’ portrays how unpredictable life can be; amid all the dramas, your dreams can still be achieved.

The movie by Aisha Lawal focuses on Eriola, a university student in the 1990s who gets entangled in a mess with a cultist, Oyekan. She eventually falls in love with Oyekan, picking a cultist over a responsible graduate who loves her.

Plot

The film begins with some students performing on stage. Eriola is seen on stage drumming and dancing with passion. While the performance was getting interesting, some cultists interrupted, causing fear among the students.

Eriola is a medical student but has an interest in theatre art. Her father, however, does not support this. He wants her to focus on medicine.

Her friends visit her at her father’s house and discuss the incident during the theatre performance. It is unknown to them that Eriola’s father is listening to their conversation. Eriola’s father cautions her and tells her there is no space for theatre in his house. He also instructed that she go to school from home and return at 7 p.m.

In the face of danger, Eriola’s defiance emerges boldly when she and her friends encounter a cult gang on their way to class. While others approach the situation cautiously, she confronts them head-on, fearlessly standing her ground, even daring to slap the gang’s leader.

Meanwhile, tensions escalate within the school as Oyekan’s squad attacks another cult group in class, drawing unwanted attention from the police. Caught in the crossfire, Eriola finds herself unwittingly entangled when Oyekan seeks refuge in her room during a police raid. Trapped by circumstance, she becomes an unwilling accomplice in the chaos, facing consequences she never could have foreseen.

Amid all these troubles, Eriola faces a heartbreaking betrayal from the one person she should be able to rely on—her father. Despite impassioned pleas from her sister Pipeola and loyal friends, Eriola finds herself abandoned in her darkest hour. There is a glimpse of hope when Oladunmi’s father, whose daughter is Eriola’s friend, visits her father after she returns from prison to plead on her behalf. But the fleeting moment of comfort shatters when her father callously casts her out into the night, exposing her to danger.

A twist of fate leaves Eriola with no option but to live with Oyekan, the cultist she once stood against and got in trouble for. Despite their rough beginnings, their bond deepens as Oyekan strives to build a better future. He works as a supervisor with a building material company and starts providing in-house services.

The squad Oyekan attacked in 1987 are after his life. Since they are unable to get him, they decide to kill someone dear to him. They trail Eriola to the house to kill her, but she is lucky to notice them, so she hides somewhere. Oyekan, after this incident, tells Eriola his childhood story and how he followed his father’s footsteps, which made him wayward.

Eriola is ashamed when Fela, her boyfriend who travelled abroad to study, visits her at Oyekan’s house. Fela is willing to fight for her love despite knowing she is pregnant for Oyekan. The two men struggle for her love.

Eriola gets kidnapped by some cultists because of Oyekan. Oyekan confronts Fela with a gun because he thinks Fela kidnapped his woman. Fela cries and begs him not to shoot that he is innocent. The two men team up to rescue Eriola. Years later, Eriola fulfils her dream of becoming a graduate, and her father apologises for his wrongs.

Character Analysis

Bimbo Manuel, Eriola’s father, is portrayed as a disciplinarian, a characteristic seen in many parents in the 1990s. He refuses to drive his daughter to school, claiming it is his car and that she should study hard and get hers.

He arrests his staff for eating three eggs that were cracked and going bad from his poultry and calls it stealing. When his daughter gets arrested for being an accomplice to a cultist, he denies and abandons her. He seemed to value his chickens more than his daughters. Knowing those cracked eggs could go bad, he still punished his workers for taking them. We could liken his daughter Eriola to the broken eggs. Why didn’t he forgive her when she was cracked and going bad? As soon as there was a crack, he left his daughter devoured by her actions.

Aisha Lawal plays the main character, Eriola. Her performance brings out the essence of the 19th-century plot. Eriola’s fate changes when she helps Oyekan.

Deyemi Okanlawon, a fabulous actor, did not give a life to the character Oyekan, the leader of a cult group at the university. Okanlawon is a great actor, but in this movie, his acting is not convincing enough, as he is a cultist and a lover.

Adedimeji Lateef portrays Fela, the second guy who, in the movie, should be fighting for Eriola’s love. The love between Fela and Eriola does not feel natural because they have no emotional connection.

Movie Analysis

This film, which should depict a rivalry between two men vying for Eriola’s affection, must convey this central theme effectively.

Instead of a compelling competition for Eriola’s love, the interactions between the men feel devoid of genuine emotion or action.

Surprisingly, the narrative focused more on parental figures from the 19th century who adhered to rigid disciplinary methods and were emotionally detached and strict in child-rearing. This is portrayed through Eriola, Pipe, her younger sister, and their father.

Certain scenes appear unjustifiable and fail to contribute meaningfully to the plot, such as Oyekan’s encounter with a random woman, which exposes her nudity without adding substance to the narrative. The scene shows the naked breast of a lady while being intimate with Oyekan, which is unnecessary to the plot development. It would have been acceptable if such intimacy had happened between Oyekan and Eriola.

The film lacks depth, resulting in a flat emotional resonance. Both romantic and action sequences suffer from poor performance and editing.

Additionally, despite the cast’s talents, their performances feel mismatched with their respective roles.

The film needed to deliver a captivating storyline or evoke genuine emotional responses. It neither succeeds as a compelling romance nor an engaging action film, leaving us disconnected from the narrative.

It’s a brilliant movie that the filmmaker could have done better. ‘Crossroads’ is now streaming on Prime Video.

READ ALSO: MOVIE REVIEW: Momiwa: Compelling human interest story with loose ends

Verdict

5/10

Check out the movie trailer here