Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Pictured : Lady ( Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah ) drives a group of prostitutes to their next appointment in a scene from the Lagos-set drama, ' Lady ', written and directed by Olive Nwosu . Photo: Peter Okesun / Film Four (UK) Buoyed by sentiment rather than authenticity, Lady is a genre film that really ought to be a realistic drama. The Lagos-born, US trained writer-director Olive Nwosu has been steered towards choices that rob her debut feature film of grit and substance. The cast acquit themselves well, but this is a film where you never once enter the title character’s head. Nwosu privileges positive representation over truth and the result is two-dimensional. You can enjoy the images. Emotionally, you are frozen out. Set in Lagos, it tells the story of woman taxi driver Lady (newcomer Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah) who has been traumatised by her mother’s struggle to survive. Asked how she managed to afford her car, or rather who did she have sex with, Lady doesn’t answer. Her d...

  For some, film directing isn’t a career, rather a diversion. It’s an opportunity to go beyond one’s usual field, to explore the potential of the medium. The risk is negligible: if it goes wrong, you can always return to the day job without shame or ignominy; indeed, you can blame the producer. Born in Tehran in 1956 and based in London, Mitra Tabrizian is an established photographer who has exhibited around the world – her CV lists shows in London, New York, Vancouver, Milan, Antwerp, Berlin, Queensland and Graz, amongst other cities. She has also directed three short films: The Predator (2004), The Journey of No Return (1993) and The Third Woman (1991). Gholam is her first feature. Set in London in 2011, as uprisings collectively dubbed the Arab Spring take place across the Middle East, it is inspired by a photograph Tabrizian made of an Iranian taxi driver in the capital. Working with co-writer Cyrus Massoudi, Tabrizian remakes or rather riffs on Martin Scorsese’s 1976 se...