The movie Odumamwen A hustler’s story was directed by Amen Imasuen and produced by Omede Osazuwa. The movie premiered at Greenwich Community College on the 25th May 2014. The event was not a full premiere of the movie but a limited viewing after which the DVDs were launched. babso.org had the singular honour of being given a copy of the DVD to watch so as to review the film. My review therefore is based on what I saw at the viewing and watching the movie at home.
Storyline: According to the synopsis of the film, A hustler story is a musical film, which mirrors the life and times of our talented youth in the society left without a job, hence a dire need for survival. It was intended in the movie to expose the audience to the naked reality of what the youth in our society go through just to attain a status within our society and become somebody in life. Jerry and Odaho’s paths crossed for the better when Jerry made a trip to the village. Little did he know that by meeting Odaho, a very talented singer, both of them will be heading for fame, and stardom
This movie also tells the story of the ugly side of the streets and how youths are lured into all kinds of shady deals by a mob boss just to make ends meet. They had no options but to risk their lives working for a heartless mob boss.
Apart from this reality, the movie a hustler is filled with dance, music and lots of party and a bit of comedy, to act as a comic relief. Above all, the movie is about how trust in a relationship is very vital. In summary, the movie is a about street hustle, talent accomplishment, and a touch of love, which they say conquers all.
The movie is an Edo movie with subtitles. I must say that the subtitles were bad. There were a lot of spelling mistakes e.g short your mouth instead of shut your mouth, arguement instead of argument, competetion instead of competition, surgestion instead of suggestion, hursling instead of hustling, sit instead of seat to mention a few. Seems there was no post production editing. I do not speak Benin or Edo but it seems some lines far exceeded what was subtitled.
Towards the end of the movie Jerry and Odaho were meant to be singing or miming a song but they did not do that justice. Initially, they were not miming and eventually they did not mime to the beats. For the story line out of a 10, I would award 6
Picture Quality: The picture quality was not exceptional but not too bad. Having researched when headroom is needed, the movie could do with some headroom. Also arial view pictures could be improved. That said for picture quality, I would award a 6 out of 10.
Sound: There were some scenes where there were buzzy sounds and interference with what was being said. The sound was also escalating up and down in scenes, sometimes high and sometimes low even though what was being said was heard very faintly. Just for emphasis, one of such scenes was where Jerry and his friend from the village were practicing at home and his mother came in. The point here was there was no consistency in the sound. For sound, i would award a 5.5 out of 10.
Cast: There were no known names amongst the actors and I did not see any extra ordinary actor or actress worthy of mention, but I think the cast just played the roles assigned to them. However, I watched some characters very closely and in my own view the mob boss did not really act like one would expect, very fierce looking and hard. I must say that the actor tried hard but not hard enough. I think Odaho played his role just right and I see him as a promising and upcoming talent in the Nollywood industry. Nothing spectacular, would award a 5 out of 10
Overall performance: I would like to commend Omede for looking at a societal ill and telling the story in an indigenous manner. However, I feel a lot of time was spent in telling the story hence making it boring for non Edo speakers. Also, the post production as it is now on DVD could have been better. There were too many errors with subtitles that could easily have been corrected before premiering and eventually putting the movie on DVD, that shows lack of attention to detail. In his next production, I think there should be some members of the cast that should stand out and wow the audience. Although I am happy not to see the regular UK Nollywood actors, I still missed that wow factor. To me, it was a simple story told by a simple cast.
Overall for effort and having given it serious thought, I would like to award this movie a 3 star out of a possible 5+ stars. There were definitely good things in the movie and somethings not too good. The question remains if i would ask people to buy the DVD. For an Edo person, they would appreciate the movie and I guess that is the targeted audience, but for non Edos, I believe they would get bored easily.
I cannot ask to watch the trailer as there is no trailer on the internet.
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