Cringe or Adorable? || Fine Wine (2021)

It's how giddy I am talking about this even though this is a film I saw four years ago. There have only been a handful of Nigerian films that got me giggling and kicking my feet. And I guess this film suited the phase I was in at the time, and fed my fantasies like a dying, thirsty man. I do not want to gush too much about the film, so I’ll just get on to giving you guys the storyline and my thoughts on it.

Fine Wine (2021)

Seye George is a billionaire and has just been named Forbes’ Top African Businessman. He’s divorced and has two adult children. To finance his newest investment which is a winery, he applies for a loan at the bank where Tunji, an ambitious and obnoxious Accounts Officer works. From there, he meets Kaima, who is Tunji’s girlfriend and at the time a corper working for a temporary period at the bank.

Kaima is oblivious to Seye’s identity, and mistaking him for a man making a pass at her, sternly chastises him. She soon realizes her folly, and is mandated by Tunji to apologize to him. From Kaima who is constantly mistreated by her narcissist boyfriend to Seye who is a rich yet lonely old man, it is clear that the two must deal with the social stigma surrounding their budding romance.

My Review and Rating

This movie, for starters, caters strictly to the romantics. I say this because as a true romantic, the number of times you will kick your feet watching this is insane. (Not me though, lol). There’s something endearing about this movie if you’re a fan of romance movies. It is sweet and it’s just a lovely film to watch. I watched this film at a time where I was heavily into age-gap romance. From books to perhaps, real life, coughs coughs... So, yeah this film appealed to me for a lot of reasons.

I will have to drop whatever I’m doing to give a standing ovation for whoever handled the casting in this film. To begin with, only RMD, in the entire Nigerian movie industry can pull off a film like this. The movie on its own could be mercilessly cringe, and you don’t want people to be disgusted or creeped out casting just any old man.

RMD is the perfect and only person that could make a trope like Nigerian age-gap romance work. Man is finneeee, in every sense of the word, and is the true definition of aging like fine wine. His grey hair is part of his appeal, so I wish they wouldn’t keep doing distasteful things like dyeing it.

Other actors like Ego Nwosu, the female lead and Tina Mba, added a colour like no other to the film. I wish I got to see more of Tina Mba, though. I usually enjoy her acting, and I wondered why they made her disappear completely at some point. Even Tunji, with his distasteful character added to the finesse of the film. I really hated his role and found his hair amusingly distracting. Like, what was going on there?

The film deals with the stigma surrounding age-gap romance, but I wish they delved more into what social media was actually saying, and not just theoretical hearsay. Also, their friends were all very supportive, their families too. So, how could it then be seen as stigma when there was no portrayal of it at any point in the film?

The storyline in itself is not new and can even be seen as cliché, but it is the delivery that made all the difference. RMD is a brilliant actor, same as Ego, and their chemistry felt believable enough. Some things could have been done a lot better, and there’s always this loophole here and there that surrounds most of these films. I cringed so bad at some scenes but it was still otherwise very sweet.

You don’t want to know the story of how I remembered this film today, and I guess I won’t be telling either way, lol. But I hope you enjoyed this, and I’d like to know your thoughts if you’ve seen this production. A 7/10 for me. Are you a fan of age-gap romances?

Jhymi🖤

_{Images from IMDB.}

Posted using CineTV