Review of Theatre Production of Bangles by Colours Production

The theatre production of Bangles was shown at the Platform Theatre Hornsey Road, London on Saturday 15th November 2014. There were two shows T 3pm and 7pm respectively. Our Lead Reviewer Babs Carew attended the 3pm and screening on behalf of www.babso.org  and reported that the screening had in attendance people of different nationalities and ages and that although the Platform Theatre is a small place, the screening was fully booked with a waiting list. Below is his review of the Production.

Storyline: “Bangles” tells the powerful story of a young British born Nigerian filmmaker and poet, Theresa who is still haunted by memories of her abusive, now deceased father. Despite her best efforts, she is unable to convey the depth of her pain to her stern mother, Gbemi and her cocky, confident brother, David. However, as the second anniversary of her father’s death approaches and familial tensions arise, Theresa and her family are compelled to confront a devastating past in a way which changes their lives forever.

Combining powerful live theatre with searing and unusual film footage, “Bangles” is an innovative multimedia production exploring the timeless themes of reality and perception, bitterness and healing.  After being enslaved for so long, is freedom EVER possible?

The storyline is relevant in this day and age where children have had to bottle abuse without being able to tell anyone and are suffering as a result of it. They cannot move on with life and fin it difficult to trust. The play was written by Michael Ajose, directed by Fana Cioban and produced by Abay Aromire. The rest of the crew consisted of Emma Nan Hu who was the film maker, Petr Vocka, the Lighting Designer, Philip Matejschuk, the Sound Designer and  SiJ in charge of the tracks.

Cast: the cast consisted of three people namely Ama Addison as Theresa, Kemi Lofinmakin as Gbemi the mother and widower and Emmanuel Ogunjinmi as David. Although there were only 3 people in the cast, they studied their roles properly and brought them to light making the whole story believable. I saw raw, natural talent waiting to be harnessed. Ama played the role in such a way that you would believe that she was just replicating what she had been through in real life. Her closing remarks that ended the production were most believable that if you were in the audience, you would have empathised with her and probably even cried. From the beginning to the end, she was in her role and never slipped away. Kemi, what can i say. You played the role effortlessly that i began to wander if you had to manage children in the category you played. You played a natural African, gullible Christian mother. All i can say is well done. Emmanuel, I am sure that in real life,  you are opposite of the role you played, but your steps, your sarcasm, your table manners and in the end your sober nature were all on point.

I would like to commend whoever was responsible for casting for this production. You could not have got better people for those roles. I also commend the Director and the entire crew for a job well done. It was indeed a team effort.

Sound: Although this was a theatre production, the sound quality including those if the images that were shown was perfect. The words were clear and concise and you could follow the production from beginning to the end. Well done!

Overall performance: Watching this production reminded me of pre-Nollywood when i used to watch plays on stage such as Village Headmaster, Aiye, Jaiyesinmi just to mention a few. The timing was meticulous. There were no gaps even when costumes had to be changed. Everyone played their roles perfectly. Feedback from all the people we spoke to was positive. One of the comments said ” well done for the production, I really enjoyed it, really great work and to think it was a 3 cast show, they did well”. Such was the consensus for the viewing I went for, not a negative comment. As a Nollywood  movie reviewer and critic, the production made me want to go back and support our local theatre.

The question remains, if the production which was free on this occasion was advertised for £15 or £20 would i go and watch it or would i recommend it. Without a doubt and without thinking twice, i would take my wife out to watch it. It is 2 hours well spent.

I spoke to the team after the event and discovered it took 3 years to bring the production to light. Getting it right is important and the time spent in developing the production was worth the while. Proper planning they say prevents poor performance and that was the case in this production.

Once more to the entire cast and crew all I have to say is a big well done. I am looking forward to the next production by Colours Production.

Watch the trailer:

https://vimeo.com/109807738

Review of London Premiere of Broken Cross

The movie Broken Cross premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 14^thNovember 2014. Prominent on the red carpet were HRH Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade and Ayo Oyebade, Marie Gomez, Tolu Yesufu, Toyin Moore, Danny Erskine, Florence Blaster Okonkwo, Collins Archie Pearce, Daniel Ndlara Robson, Mary Lawal, Malcolm Benson, Toksy B, Julian Sandi, Riyike Alayande amongst others.

Storyline: Broken Cross is an emotional story centred around a young girl Esther. She is haunted by her past upbringing as a child, living with her grandmother and later on joined her mother who lived with an abusive step father, she battles to come to terms with her family breakdown. Her father got married to a jealous step mother, she hates Esther with passion. Esther’s life changed when she stated to suffer a lot of abuse from her step father and this completely turned her life upside down and made a young innocent good girl suddenly turn to be a bad girl, turning to alcohol and drug abuse.

The movie is a mixture of romance, comedy, action, lies & deceit and a little bit of thriller as well. This movie is different from the normal African movies that we watch in that one will not easily make up what is going to happy next.

According to the synopsis of the movie, this movie was set to raise the standard of African movies and to show the world that we can do it to a very high standard. The movie was Produced and Directed by Daniel Ndlara Robson of Star Galaxy Media, a UK based Zimbabwean upcoming Director and Producer.

I would like to start by commending the Director and his cast for effort. It is not easy to come out with a production and bring it to live. Hearing all that happened during the making of the movie, I can only give kudos to the team as this is his first effort. However, If I had not read the synopsis if the film, I would be lost as 20 minutes into the movie, even as a critic I did not know the direction of the movie.

Again the movie ended with a message about teenage pregnancy and HIV. This on its own is commendable, but the storyline should have been written in such a way that it was clear that these were the central themes of the movie. I think in terms of the message, people watching the movie may have been confused and take away the end from the script would have been unable to tell what the central message was. This is a learning curve and hopefully in the next production, these points would be addressed.

Cast: The movie showcased Danny Erskine as George Cole, HRH Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade as herself promoting an NGO, Florence Blaster Okonkwo as the Millionaire widow, Collins Archie Pearce as Jeffrey Rodney, Daniel Ndlara Robson as Danny Bradley, Mary Lawal as Esther Bradley, Julian Sandi as Pastor Bakasi amongst others.

I observed that some of the cast were novel to acting and to the industry. This showed in the way they acted as most of the cast were not actually acting but had just crammed their lines. This is as a result of inexperience. When one is acting, the passion, the action needs to show in the character they play and this was lacking in most of the characters.

Taking an example, if someone is meant to be crying, there should be real tears from the time she starts crying that convinces anyone watching that she is crying. An example of the cast that seemed to cram his lines and in my view was just shouting was Esther’s step dad when she was young.

However, there were positives. In a previous movie, I had commented about  Danny Erskine’s acting skills. However, in this movie, I must commend him. I think the role fit him, I think he studied the role, I think he acted the role, he convinced me and went away from talking into acting, in a nutshell, he nailed his role in this movie. Well done Danny. I am looking forward to you even getting better in subsequent roles that you are given. Collins, although your script was flawed which is not your fault (see my final comments), you also nailed your role especially where you sarcastically caught Danny having an affair with your fiancée. That was sarcastic, funny and real. You brought some life into the movie.

Picture Quality: The picture quality was fair and could be improved more. The aerial views were so bad and in some cases the lighting probably of the camera affected the picture e.g. where the pastor was speaking with Esther’s friend, Fabian. If one is going to premiere a movie, the Director needs to look at the final cut and possibly edit such scenes.

Sound Quality: There were buzzy sounds in most scenes and the sound quality could have been better. However, I commend the effort with regards to effects. The sound quality with regards to the impact of the accident for example was good. With regards to sound, there were good and bad parts.

Overall performance: Firstly, I believe that when writing a script, one needs to research the area of the script. An example is when a client came to Collins in his office, I heard him say “we would not file a counter claim” and immediately as a lawyer myself I wrote “Counter claim in a criminal matter”? At the end of the movie, at the scene of the conference, I also heard “Commit suicide to kill herself”. That made me and those seating next to me laugh and in fact reminded me of the kind of thing the First Lady of Nigeria would say. These are things that should be checked and should not find a place in the movie.

I was shocked that the movie started abruptly and there was no introduction to the movie. This made the movie from the beginning difficult to follow.

In a scene, I also saw a plane flying or landing and at the same time there was someone in the room. I did not seem to understand that overlap, a plane flying in a room, that is novel. In post-production, this should have been eliminated.

Finally, even a member of the cast was confused as the ghost of grandma just showed up and there was no correlation to show that grandma had died.

There were good parts and not too good parts of the movie. While I commend the final scene, the introduction was abrupt. There should have been a link between the scenes to introduce such an important scene with what was possibly the message of the whole movie.

For a first attempt,although in totality, I believe it was a bad movie,  I commend the Director and his team for trying, especially when I heard all the things that happened on set. However, as a reviewer and critic, I need to write what I saw. I believe taking these points on board, the next production can only get better and I wish the team all the best in future productions.

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRUobaMg4ms

The premiere of the movie Invasion 1897 was held at Odeon Greenwich Cinema on Friday 7th November 2014. Prominent amongst those on the red carpet included Toksy B, Anthony Monjaro, Riyike Alayande, Malcolm Benson, Sam Anwuzia, Collins Archie Pearce, Deejay Abass, Sam and Tola Onigbanjo, Paul Obazele,  Mike Omoregbe, Chucky Venn, Annika Aloti, Danny Erskine, cast and crew of the Movie, to mention but a few. The movie started pretty late although as you would see in my review it was worth the wait.

Storyline:  The movie is a historic epic based on the life of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, the Oba of Benin Kingdom, who ruled between 1888 and 1897. In 1897, the British invaded Benin, marking the historical epic from which this film was made.

Igie Ehanire played by Chucky Venn, a research student on African Art History gets touched and perturbed about the injustice the British invasion of Benin. It got more worrisome for him on learning that the artwork was more than just art works but a historical documentation of the records of the Benin people.

He wanted to return the priceless work of history and records to its original owners but went about it wrongly by trying to steal them, was arrested and had to face the wrath of the law. In trying to justify his actions, he queries the judge what she would do if her wig and gown were stolen and she now discovers them with a third party and then goes on to narrate the series of events about the reign of Oba Ovonramwen played by Mike Omoriegbe one of the greatest kings of Benin Empire who until 1897 was the only king and kingdom standing in Sub Saharan Africa. A major misunderstanding ensued that led to deaths and destruction and the carting away of priceless works of art which were more than decorative pieces and tagged spoils of war and culminating in the banishment of a brave king.

The movie was based on a real life event that happened in the Benin Empire now in what is now known as Edo State of Mid-West Nigeria. The story was well researched and is an excellent piece of history, one worthy of being told. It reminds me of the film about Nelson Mandela and all I can say on the storyline is well done to the script writer for recording history in the form of a movie.

Cast: The movie featured local and international actors including famous British actors Garett Mort, Rudolph Walker, Charles Chucky Venn, Annika Alofti, Hannah Raeshe-Felstead, Tim Robinson, Rob Spackman, Patrick Thompson and Keith Davinson and top Nigerian actors including Segun Arinze, Charles Inojie, Nosa Ehimwen, Paul Obazele, Leo Mezie, Mike Omoriegbe, Idiata Otiagbe and the late Justus Esiri.

Firstly, I must commend the entire cast of the movie for being able to collaborate properly and make the movie as real to anyone that watched it, bearing in mind that it was meant to be a 19^th Century story. I must however commend both Chucky Venn and Mike Omoriegbe both playing lead roles for “marrying” their roles for a lack of a better word and making those of us that watched the audience believe we were actually living in that era. Mike’s command of the Benin language and the culture must be commended and as the narrator in a different manner, Chucky must have taken time to study Benin History to have been confident enough to present his role the way he did. All the Chiefs and the supporting roles also contributed in making the movie as solid as it was. Again the British actors most of them involved in Nollywood for the first time did a good job in collaborating with the Nigerian actors in presenting what I call a first class jo. Well done!!

Sound: To me, the quality of the sound was good. It was not an A* which stands for excellence but it was good enough. I did not hear buzzing sounds or interference and the sounds of the props like the bombs fired came out properly. I must commend the Director and his crew for getting this right.

Picture Quality: The general picture quality was good again not excellent. I did not notice blurry pictures and in most of the scenes, the pictures were properly focused. Again I say well done!

Overall performance: We were informed that it took 4 years from start to finish produce what we saw at the premier. I commend Lancelot and his team the cast and crew for being patient to bring out such an epic historic piece. It shows that if as an industry, we take time, put in the effort, get the necessary sponsorship, the Nollywood industry would be a force to reckon with.

Although I would have liked to see more sub-titling and there were some typographical errors such as being “save” instead of “safe” (as a reviewer and critic, I see things people don’t see), overall, I believe the movie was an excellent movie.

Also in my view the cinematography was good, but in these days of computer technology where computers can create images to look real, I think advantage could have been taken of this for the war scenes and bombs, burning villages without losing the plot of the 19^th Century. A typical example again was where people were beheaded, blood should have been flowing through and a good cinematographer would have caught this, this was missing in the movie. Finally, in such a movie as this, there should have been warnings that there were graphic imaging.

I don’t say this about many movies that I watch, but I think this movie should not only be premiered but should be in cinemas throughout the UK so tat people in Birmingham, Southampton and the furthest parts of the UK can have an opportunity to watch it. Would I recommend people to watch this movie, without blinking an eyelid or thinking about it, I say a big YES, it would be a 2 hours well spent. Although people complained that the movie started late, I asked some of these same people whether it was worth the wait and the all said yes.

In finality, to Lancelot and the team a big well done and kudos to you.

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YljETHmfD34

Review of London Premiere of Double Cross

The premiere of the movie Double Cross was held at Odeon Greenwich Cinema on Friday 31^st October 2014. Prominent amongst those on the red carpet included John Dumelo, Ama K. Abebrese, DJ Abass, Eloise Nana Yaa Miss Ghana UK 2014, Adjetey Anang, Ayo Oyebade, Ikenna Obi, Yvonne Hayes, Danny Erskine, cast and crew of the Movie, to mention but a few.

The movie which was shot in Ghana showcased award winning actress Ama K. Abebrese, multi Award winning John Dumelo, multi award winning actor Adjetey Anang, alongside Jasmine Baroudi, Paulina Oduro and veteran actor Samuel Odoi-Mensah. The movie was directed by prolific director Pasacal Aka and produced by D R Kufuor and Ama K Abebrese.

Storyline:  In the movie, Effie Howard’s (Ama K. Abebrese) life is dramatically turned upside down when her fiancé Ben Boateng (Adjetey Anang) is convicted and sentenced for a crime he did not commit. Determined to prove his innocence, she carried out her own investigation and finds the actual robber; Danny Frimpong (John Dumelo) a calm and collected sophisticated genius of a thief who has a personal vendetta against the bank he robbed Neptune Bank International. He robbed the bank using technological equipment’s and software’s which enabled him to enter, steal and exit the bank leaving everyone mystified as to how the theft was carried out, no witnesses, no evidence, yet the money is gone.

She meets Danny and threatens him but offers him a deal, and it’s to rob the bank again with similar methods as the first so the authorities know the actual robber is still out there then Danny does not lose what matters to him most and the reason for the bank robbery. She plans to relocate with the money when Ben is acquitted so as to get away from the stigma attached to ex-convicts and their families. After the bank robbery Effie sets her sights on a jewellery warehouse and she wants Danny to rob it.

With a lot of jewellery and money at stake, each one of them tries to outwit each other with medleys of smart thinking as they plan and execute the robberies, but no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare them for the dangerous enemy, an enemy Effie least expected and never saw coming with surprising twist

With a lot of jewellery and loads of money at stake, each one of them tries to outwit each other with medleys of smart thinking as they plan and execute the robberies. They meticulously plan the robberies, but no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare them for the dangerous enemy, an enemy Effie least expected and never saw coming. There was a surprise twist, but if you want to know what it is, go watch the movie.

I sat down at the Cinema and initially wandered where the story was going. I thought it was about revenge and an upset lady trying to get revenge on the man that had put her fiancé behind bars. I then saw the same man falling in love with his friend’s fiancée. It was wild drama till the last straw. I am tempted to say what happened, but that would be spoiling the intrigue for those who have not watched the movie. The credits at the end showing what happened to each individual was a welcome advantage and of course the climax of the movie surprised some people. I must say I was not surprised as I expected it!! All in all, the storyline was good and I give credit to the writer.

Cast: As stated above, there were some celebrated cast members. I think there was a balanced cast and the cast did justice in bringing out the intended storyline and for this I give kudos to the Director of the movie. However, I was not really impressed with the acting of one or two of the cast. Worthy of mention is the police inspector and negotiator. To me the acting was not convincing at all. Before the bomb exploded and after that, the countenance of the officer was unreal. At the press conference as well, I was not impressed, he did not make it look real. I think he should have demonstrated a bit more passion in the role. On a balance, I say well done to the cast.

Picture quality: For this sub-head, I had an argument with my Associate Reviewer. While she thought that some scenes were blurry and not well focussed, I did not agree with her. In my own opinion, I thought that the picture quality was good but not excellent. As a good reviewer and bearing in mind that in every movie, we have two reviewers seating at different places within the cinema, I think the Director along with the Director of Photography in future movies should take a second look at the final shot and the pictures that come out so that pictures are clear and not blurry. On this one, I leave it to the audience that watched the movie to lean on one side.

Sound: Right from the beginning of the movie and in most scenes, as is the case with most Nollywood and African movies that we have reviewed, there were buzzy sounds on the background interfering with the actual sound of the cast. Although we could hear what the cast was saying, I am really looking forward to reviewing a movie where I am not hearing background noise. I watch movies from around the world and if we are to compete with Hollywood, we have to ensure that the sound is clear and concise and that the only background noise that is heard are the sounds of any effects used in the movie. The sound was not too bad, but can be improved on.

Overall performance: When I watch an African Movie or a Nollywood movie, I want to see the effects, props and location looking as real as possible. In this movie, to me the prison even though it was the visiting hall that was shown did not look anything like a prison. What I saw was even much better than the visiting halls of category D, open prisons in the UK. I would be very surprised if that scene was shot on location in a prison. In future, the Director should actually approach the prison service and do the scene there or do what is done in programmes like East Enders, create the location.

Like I said earlier, I was impressed with the intrigue and suspense at the end. To me, the effects used for the bomb and the whole scene could have been better. A good cinematographer would have done a very good job in that scene and made it look real. It looked a bit artificial although the message was sent out.

Overall, I would say it was a good movie, better than most of the movies I have seen and had to review. There were definitely issues as I have addressed and this is hoping that in future projects, the Director and his team would look at these in a bid to make their next work better.

All I have to say is well done!!!

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddpLpeaxb7o .