Although the Executive Premiere was not advertised and was strictly by invitation, it attracted those involved in the Nollywood industry and members of the public. Some notable names present at the premiere included DJ Abass, Kunle Afolayon, Ikenna Obi, Theodora and Ayo Oyebade, Yvonne Hayes, Fatima and Julius Maada Bio, Collins Archie Pearce, Kevwe Ogunje amongst others. At the end of the movie, both Dami and Chucks emphasised the challenges they had in bringing this movie to light and Chucks was emphatic that he had worked with so many Directors, but for a first film, Dami was passionate and was a delight to work with.
The movie in brief centred around a hardworking lady called Jasmine (played by Dami) who was a virgin and promised her father on his death bed to keep her virginity till she got married. She got to a crossroad when she discovered that she had two men Dave and Robin interested in her. Dave (played by O C Ukeje) was determined to have her as his wife at all costs and went on to defile her and then propose marriage to her but was dumped on the day of the wedding in favour of Robin (played by Darren Murphy), who had tried all he could to entice her but had always been brushed off. The movie also centred on drugs and drug money.
I must start by saying that this movie was meant to be premiered at the Odeon Cinema last year for a fee of £10 but was cancelled and on this occasion, no fees were charged as it was an Exclusive Premiere for invited guests only. I must commend Dami for taking the bulls by the horn and going out and producing and bringing this movie to light in spite of the challenges she faced. However, as a Nollywood critic and reviewer, I must be honest and firm and review this movie the way I saw it so that in future, comments from this review would be taken on board in future projects not only for Dami, but for those aspiring to get into the Nollywood industry.
Picture Quality: The picture quality was not bad, neither was it so great. Although shots were taken from different angles, they were all over the place and in most cases very blurry. There were scenes with two people where the camera was focussed on one person and the face was blurred. In totality, I looked at the picture quality and immediately concluded it was not done by a professional cinematographer. Due to all the blurry cuts in the picture quality, I can only award the picture quality a 4 out of a possible 10.
Sound Quality: Again there were issues with the sound. In some cases there was a lot of echoing and hissy sounds. What was actually annoying was how the background music always overshadowed the voices of the actual characters. As a movie maker, one should focus on the storyline and characters and not on the background music. The sound engineer or whoever was in charge of that part of the movie could have filtered out a lot of the background noise especially those not relevant to the movie. An example was in the flower shop where the background noise of traffic was too loud that I had to strain my ears to hear what was being said. With regards to sound quality, I can only give this a 3 out of a possible 10.
Storyline: Earlier in the review, I have given a brief of the story. Drugs and ill gained wealth is an ill in the society, also abusing women is also an ill in the society and I support the scriptwriter for bringing these out. However, for every script, there has to be a central message. My dilemma is what was this central message? With Regards to Dave, apart from being a lover boy, his drug dealings were highlighted. I do not believe that was the central message and I think less emphasis should have been put on his drug dealings and more emphasis on the fact that he was ready to purchase Dami’s love at any cost even if the money was from shady deals. I think the scene that showed him and his runner would have been enough to highlight that point.
The central message was around Dami. Like I say in my reviews, the message should be clear after watching a few scenes even if there is intrigue and suspense in the movie. I must confess that I was waiting to see if Dami would marry Dave and was happy the way the movie ended. For the storyline, although I would have changed some things if I was the writer, I think it was a first good effort, so I would be giving her a 6 out of a possible 10
Cast: There were a mix of African and British actors in this movie and I must say most of them are new to the industry. This was buttressed by Dami who said she was trying to promote new talent. I commend her efforts. To be honest, when I started watching the movie, I felt that Jasmine was a bit artificial, but with time and in my view, I think she fitted better into the role. Some of the cast acted as if they had crammed their lines, but this is no surprise as this is their first big movie. However, in my view the actor that I think did the best was the taxi driver. Our Pastor, (Collins Archie Pearce) again displayed his ability to act any role. Although the role of the taxi driver was minor, I think he played it with conviction and drove home his point. In rating the cast, I am again on border line but would like to award a 6 out of 10.
Overall performance: While I must state that this movie was in no wise perfect and needs a lot of production TLC, I must credit Dami for putting out a film and fulfilling her passion and dream. When I saw the movie and before Dami came to address the audience, I already knew it was a low budget movie. There is nothing wrong in low budget movies, but even at that, the basic elements of a good movie the sound, pictures, cast and storyline must be on point. In the case of this movie, they were not all quite on point and I hope in her next venture, Dami would consider all these issues. For overall performance, I would give this movie a 5 out of 10.
I understand that Dami intends to premiere this movie in other countries of the world. My advice to her would be to take the movie in its current state to a professional cinematographer and see if the sound issues in particular and the picture quality can be improved.
In totality, out of a possible 50, the movie scored 24 which means 48 out of 100 which gives it 4.8. I would not want Dami to be discouraged but to be determined the next movie would be even better.
Watch the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSfThzofiXM
