“The look of love” is a phrase common amongst romcom aficionados. Many outside the group are acquainting themselves with the phrase thanks to TikTok. Although TikTok has popularized it with its swoony edits of couples, it dates back to the 1967 song “The Look of Love” by Dusty Springfield. Its prominent lyric reads “The look of love is in your eyes”. The gaze, this look of love, is of utmost importance to the genre. It symbolizes yearning and mesmerisation, feelings a romcom must embody and a heartthrob must convey. And Ogranya Jable Osai is a master at evoking these feelings as Leke in Dika Ofoma’s “Something Sweet”, a part of the Zikoko Life anthology series.
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Something Sweet follows the relationship between an older woman, Ziora (Michelle Dede) and a younger man, Leke (Ogranya) and how they grapple with the unusualness of their relationship. A few minutes after coming onto the screen, Ogranya disarms you. It is his eyes that do the trick the second Ziora walks into the scene. He forgets who he is and where he is. There is something about the gaze that drives romantics insane. Everyone desires to be looked at in a certain manner, like the object of a person’s affection. Sometimes, we do not have the words to describe this longing, but romcoms perfectly encapsulate our thoughts through that gaze. It is not voyeuristic or tainted by lust, it is unadulterated admiration, a deep affection. And it is all in the eyes, they do the heavy lifting. A good heartthrob knows how to manipulate his eyes. And at every turn in the story, Ogranya shows just how good it can get.
In the penultimate scene, he realizes what he feels for Ziora is more than a mere crush, it is love. This realization comes on him slowly like the sun searching for the perfect place to crouch for the day. When he gets to her, he lights up like a puppy; after they kiss, he stares at her face, really gazes as if trying to memorize it, every pore, every freckle, every line. His yearning is palpable, almost like you can reach out and touch it.
A heartthrob is saddled with many roles he must balance. A heartthrob is charming with a face to match, love-stricken, humorous and vulnerable. He might stumble with this vulnerability, but it must have a seat at the table, whether in small moments or grand ones. Wielding his delectable face, Ogranya steps into the shoes of a heartthrob ever so easily. In the first charged moment between Leke and Ziora where their lips almost meet, Ziora stops him, reminding him of the unconventionality of their relationship, “I have someone your age who calls me mummy.” Leke (Ogranya) replies, “I could call you mummy”. His delivery is cheeky and the sentence treads the line between funny and sexy. It is one of the moments Ofoma’s writing shines, showing how it is set up to make the heartthrob sparkle and Ogranya takes advantage of it.
Yet it isn’t just his looks or timing that make him convincing. There is a charisma and earnestness Ogranya brings to Ofoma’s words. When he says, “If you haven’t noticed, I like you and I get the feeling you like me too,” you believe him because of this earnestness and boyish charm he channels to play Leke. It’s this blend of vulnerability and charm that elevates his performance beyond the surface.
That sincerity is made even more compelling by the chemistry he shares with his scene partner, Michelle Dede (Ms Kanyin) who makes him stand out as a heartthrob. In preparing for the film, the two spent some time outside the set, getting to know each other. The result of these afterschool classes appears in their delightful chemistry. One of the many pitfalls of Nollywood romcoms is the absence of chemistry, which if put in place makes the most melodramatic scene feel real. For instance, in A Lagos Love Story, the chemistry between the leads is amiss. Thus, when King Kator pulls Promise Quest in for that one kiss that is poised to shake up their worlds and ours, we feel nothing. The kiss is almost laughable. Whereas with Leke and Ziora, they constantly pull at our heartstrings. When they almost kiss the first time, the seconds stretch as they hover over each other’s faces. We are watching them with bated breath, begging for that one kiss that shakes up their worlds and ours. The tension feels organic because of that chemistry. For a romcom to work, it takes more than a good script; the chemistry can make or mar it. There is so much power in chemistry that a script could be ridiculously bad, but the chemistry between the leads saves the day. Recent Nollywood romcoms have failed to acknowledge the might of an electrifying chemistry.
Ultimately, Something Sweet works because it was woven by someone who cares about romance and this is captured in every frame. “Whenever you are in a room, let your eyes find Ziora,” reads a note from director Ofoma to his leading man during filming. Ogranya scribbled this note on his heart as his eyes never leave Ziora throughout the film’s twenty-nine-minute runtime. Ofoma’s filmography has always leaned towards trapping intimacy in frames, however, Something Sweet is Dika Ofoma’s first film with a happy ending. In the opening scenes of A Japa Tale, the intimacy between the couple is profound. The woman uses the toilet while the man brushes by the wash-hand basin —a mundane but intense display of closeness. In The Way Things Happen, another short written by the director, the intimacy is threaded in the dialogue. The couple lie lazily on the bed while the man playfully teases the woman about the possibility of finding another woman. She feigns annoyance and he begs her, pulling her closer to himself. It is that kind of carefree and sometimes flirtatious banter that couples engage in. It is a routine scene that carries weight because it denotes the depth of their relationship.
Lately, a lot of romcoms fall flat because they are in the hands of people who do not regard the genre, they do not put in time for the couple’s build up, and do not care about romanticizing them on screen. Something Sweet is interested in courting the audience’s emotions, it needs them to fall for the couple and the montage emphasizes this. They are short moments of Leke and Ziora stitched together like a dreamlike fairytale, every shot, every framing is intentional. In the preluding image, Leke tries to hug Ziora but she quickly stretches out her hand, an awkward moment that humanizes them, muses the audience and simultaneously shows how romance can be clumsy. And because the romcom is vested in wooing the audience, it utilizes a stimulating soundtrack and score to help achieve this mission. It is never distracting, simply puts you in your feels, creates a craving for a love story that imitates Leke and Ziora’s.
Something Sweet offers a tangible lesson for Nollywood. Glossy sets and shiny gowns do not make a romcom. While they are nice to look at, people come to romcoms to experience a thrilling love story. There is a requirement to swoon over an almost perfect man who makes their heart throb, and to laugh at the bungling of romance. Above all, people find their way to romcoms to reignite hope. This makes Something Sweet a breath of fresh air. Joining forces with Dika Ofoma, Ogranya presents himself as a worthy contender for Nollywood’s latest heartthrob. And for romantics, this puts the ‘hope’ back in hopeless romantic.
Created by Anita E. Eboigbe and produced by Blessing Uzzi, Something Sweet is a part of the 3-part Zikoko Life anthology, streaming on YouTube.
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