Review of London Premiere of Urban Rhythm

The premiere of the movie Urban Rhythm was held at Lighthouse Camberwell on Friday 3^rd October 2014. The movie showcased UK based upcoming new talents Lateef Lovejoy, Material, Gabriel Rinu, Zeezat Sadiq, Yvonne Hays, Maydaz, Ade Bello, Adasnoop amongst others.

Storyline:  ‘Urban Rhythm’ is a musical film with a fusion of UK based afrobeat artists and actors and with a compelling story of an unlikely friendship and an afrobeat journey. It features two main characters who do not quite get along. A young artist, Material, suddenly finds himself in need of a defence lawyer when he is charged with a petty crime. Sean who works for a private law firm is assigned to the case. An unlikely friendship occurs which then leads to an afrobeat journey. The movie was directed by Michael Ibiayo and produced by Yinka Kuponiyi.

As a lawyer, I was concerned about Sean’s actions in chambers as they were to say the least unprofessional and could lead to debarring. If he had issues, he should have refused to take the case and act on behalf of the client. He had an interest in the matter and would be unprofessional to act for him. Furthermore, he knew the client had stolen from him and that is enough to create a bias and make a case for him to transfer the case to someone else.

I also found it strange that in between a case conference, the solicitor picked up a call and subsequently went off course from the reason for the  conference and started talking about music.

Also I noticed miming during the course of some recordings. Music should have been lowered and the musician given more focus.

I commend the thought of bringing up a real issue of  a professional who should have known better in making a lucrative contract agreeing orally in principle to manage a musician even after he had been warned by his colleague and after his client had become so successful. The story show cases a common error and is a big lesson that should be learnt how where there is no concrete agreement, one can double cross another and friendships and relationships can be destroyed. Well done for that!!

Cast: As stated earlier, the cast are not well known names in the Nollywood industry save for Yvonne Hayes who has done a few Nollywood Movies. I believe that as first timers, most of the actors and actresses did well although there is room for improvement. I think the extras were a bit excessive in their acting and in a scene like the gym or the pool, there were elements of overacting.

I commend the Director for using real musicians and allowing them be creative and express themselves.

Picture quality: There were some scenes where the focus was out of place and this was obvious. If this could be worked on, I think the picture quality would be a winner. Overall however, the cinematography was on point. I agree with Nelson that the shoot style was the American dept-of-field flavour with movement and over the shoulder shots heavily utilised.

Sound: Again there were some issues with the sound. In some cases, the sound was low and in some cases, the sound was excessively high. Again working on this would make the sound a winner.

Overall performance: I think this movie is unique being a musical and also telling a story. From what the Director told us, the project was worked on for two years and had a relatively huge budget for a Nollywood movie. I commend the team for patience and trying to get things right before actually premiering the movie. However, I think the movie dragged on a bit and people may get bored eventually.

Most of the locations were great, but as a lawyer, I had a problem with the law office and as stated above if a UK Solicitor was at the premiere, they may not have understood the whole office and law scenes. Some people who watched the movie alluded that it cannot be termed as an authentic Nollywood movie but a British movie with the makings of a  Hollywood movie

Overall, I give a big nod to the movie and if people are music lovers and can endure, they would watch the movie to the end and enjoy it. Well done!!

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7jhAptLlI#t=10

Review of London Gala Premiere of Gone too far

The Gala Premiere took place at the Hackney Picture House On Tuesday 30th September 2014. The premiere was attended by the Director Destiny Ekaragha, the writer Bola Agbaje, the cast and crew of the movie and many of the Nollywood UK industry stakeholders including DJ Abass, Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade, Ayo Oyebade, Teju Ibukunoluwa, Ikenna Obi, Kenneth Benson, Danny Erskrine, Nelson Spyke, Riyike Alayande, to mention but a few.

Storyline: Gone too far follows two estranged brothers mainly over the course of a single day as they meet for the first time and struggle to accept each other for who they truly are. Yemi (Malachi Kirby) who was a British born Nigerian teenager could not wait to for his brother Ikudayisi (O C Ukeje) to join him in Peckham but it was all disappointment when he arrived wearing socks and sandals making Yemi question both his judgement and African heritage.

The drama continued as Ikudayisis African heritage and unimpressive fashion sense soon start to endanger Yemi’s street credentials. He had been trying so hard, got the right clothes, listened to the right music, stayed out of trouble, and it seemed to be working particularly when trying to impress local troublemaking temptress Armani (Shanika Warren-Markland), but his wall soon came crashing down as this goggle-eyed, naive immigrant could do nothing but harm his credibility.

As simmering adolescent passions and West Indian-African tensions erupt over the course of one day in their estate, both siblings had to decide where their loyalties lie. A day in the estate becomes filled with danger and excitement and teaches both siblings the values of family and self-respect.

The movie was adapted from Bola Agbaje’s Olivier award winning play and is a delightful funny tale from the end of Peckham and focused on addressing serious racial tensions. The film was directed by Destiny Ekaragha and produced by Christopher Granier-Deferre. The Associate producer was Rob Watson.

The storyline outlined what is a prevailing issue in the British and in fact in other parts of the world. Discrimination is not necessarily between black and white or white and Hispanic and could actually be amongst the black race, in the case of this movie between African and Caribbean citizens. What caught my eyes and was real is the way the Afro-Caribbean in the Diaspora have refused to identify with their roots as depicted by Yemi and Shanika. These are real issues and though not depicted in the movie, people want to identify and do so by changing their names and even the colour of their skins. To me, the storyline was direct, relevant and eye opening. We need to go back to our roots and identify with it, we need to be proud to be Nigerian or Bajan. I therefore give kudos to the script writer for coming up with such a concept.

Cast: The movie feautured Adelayo Adedayo (Paris), Malachi Kirby (Yemi), Shanika Warren-Markland (Armani), Ashley Chin (Mark), Bhasker Patel (Mr Patel), Eddie Bagayawa (Cook), O.C. Ukeje (Ikudayisi), Pooja Shah (Aisha), Kulvinder Ghir (Bossman), Tosin Cole (Razer), Wai Wong (Mr Wong), Michael Maris (Blazer), Eddie Kadi (DJ), Liz Sutherland (Mrs Wong), Golda John (Mum), Sandra Michelle (angry girlfriend), Garry Marriott (PCSO), Miles McDonald (Ghost) and KG the Comedian  (Hi Res).

I must commend the Director how she was able to bring a blend of different personalities to tell the story. Using a mix of Golda, Malachi, O.C Ukeje, Shanika and the mix of minor characters such as Bhasker, Mr Wong etc brought balance to the movie. Usually, I pick one or two of the cast and credit them, but for this movie and in order to encourage the upcoming actors and actresses take a bold step and get into the industry, I would say a big well done to everyone. When a Director makes a foreigner speak an indigenous Nigerian language, I give kudos to that Director and although murdering the Yoruba language, I give credit to Bhasker for the effort.

Saying that, I think in some scenes, there was a bit of overacting, I also think that one or two of the cast in some scenes made it obvious that they were in front of a camera, thus defeating the ethos of acting. That being the case, overall, I give a thumbs up to the cast especially those that are new to the Nollywood scene. I also see potentials of new stars erupting as a result of their roles in the movie. To me Golda was just natural and I commend her. I have said in a previous review that O.C. Ukeje is a fast upcoming star, but I think he should learn his role properly and convince the audience of the role he is playing. He was playing a Yoruba boy and in my honest opinion in some scenes his tone and acts did not demonstrate a typical Yoruba compared to Golda. Being Yoruba myself I noticed easily, others may not but overall, I say the cast did well.

Picture quality: To me throughout the movie, unless I missed something, the picture quality was not excellent, but it was good and I do not have any negative comments about the picture quality. With a larger budget in these days of technology the picture quality could have been improved. That said, as a starting point I give credit to the Director and her crew and I look forward to seeing the use of sharper and up to date cinematography in her next movie. This bit should not be seen as a negative criticism but one that is pushing the Director to look deeper and upgrade in her next effort.

Sound: Again apart from one scene which was an external scene where I heard some buzzing sound I think the sound was good again I commend the Director and her team for this. Not much to say.

Overall performance: In describing the movie overall, I would say it was simply brilliant, an excellent movie, one of the best that I have watched in Nollywood recently. There were loads of comedy with the audience bursting out in laughter.

However good as the movie is, I think there should have been subtitles for non-Yoruba speakers and even non Bayan speakers. If the movie has been produced for a Nigerian or even Afro-Caribbean audience I think subtitles would not be necessary. However, if the movie has been designed for an overall audience of different nationals, in some scenes people would be lost as was the case in the premiere where my neighbour looked lost in some scenes as she just did not understand the jokes or what was going on. Golda in her role tried to interprete Yoruba to English, but not in all cases. That is just a food for thought.

The movie is showing at a cinema near you from the 10^th of October 2014. The question is that as a Nollywood critic and movie reviewer, would I pay to go and see the movie. I do not have to think hard and fast about the answer to that question. The answer is a categorical YES.

I believe this is one of the movies that depicts where the Nollywood movie industry should be going and as such we should encourage a step in the right direction. To the Director, cast and crew of this movie I say well done!!

Watch the trailer:

http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/trailers-clips/gone-too-far-trailer/3785262077001/?filter=all#!/gone-too-far-trailer/3785262077001