The movie Afuas Diary premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 5thDecemmber 2014. Prominent on the red carpet were Cleopatra Wood, Fabio Abraham, Bibi Owusu-Shabholt, Ben Owusu, cast and crew of the movie, DJ Abass Danny Erskine, Riyike Alayande, Nelson Spyke, HRH Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade and Chief Ayo Oyebade. Also present at the premiere was prolific Nollywood Director Obi Emenlonye and his wife Amaka amongst others.
There were two things about this premiere that struck me and I must comment on them. Firstly, the premiere started early and finished early which is not usually the case with premieres held at the Odeon Cinema. The organisers took the risk to pay for premium time and in spite of heavy traffic on the day, the attendance was encouraging. Secondly, the setting for the red carpet was second to none that I have seen since I started to watch Nollywood or African premieres. There may not have been many known names but the setting was professional and almost akin to what you would see in Hollywood premieres. It was the best red carpet setting that I have seen so far. Having said all that, let us take a look at the movie itself.
Storyline: Alan Freeman is an Italian businessman who has suffered a bitter divorce. His ex wife was a South African woman who left him after she was given the right to stay in the UK. This divorce is affecting every facet of his life till he meets Afua Forson Brown.
Afua Forson Brown is a stunning African girl whose life is a catalogue of problems. She has a lazy, arrogant and aggressive boyfriend who depends on her for everything and an alcoholic father in Ghana who comes up with outrageously childish reasons to extort money from her. In addition to this, her visa is near expiration.
As Afua and Alan meet and fall in love, Afua’s problems become a big threat to their relationship. The movie was written by Bibi Owusu-Shadbolt and directed by Ben Owusu.
The storyline centres around Afua who has been in the UK since she was 19. She has immigration challenges and has been refused leave to remain in the United Kingdom. The issue of immigration and amnesty, one that is a major issue in this part of the world is highlighted in this movie. The issue of arranged marriages where one of the parties gets married to the other to get their immigration status is also highlighted. The issue of illegal working and fines aid for employing those with no right to remain were also highlighted.
The other major theme was around love and how destiny can bring people together. It showcased how a broken heart can change the life of a person especially when he feels his heart has been broken not once but twice.
In my view, I give credit to the script writer. The storyline was relevant and straight forward. Everyone that watched the movie could understand where the story was heading. The good thing about the movie was that the storyline was not dragged on or prolonged and went straight to the point.
Cast: The movie showcased Cleopatra Wood, KSM Kwaku Sintim Misa, Fabio Abraham, Franciska Bijou-Steiner, Zion Johnson, Alexander Arthur, Louis Hyde, Richard Goble and Nataylia amongst others
What can I say about KSM? Natural actor, greedy father but he nailed the role, in other words, he played the role excellently. When I started to watch the movie initially, my first thoughts were that Fabio was doing a movie for the first time. His role was pivotal and central that I felt that initially, he did not capture the role. An example was where he got angry and threw his phone on the floor. To me that looked like play acting. It was not natural and did not convince me. It looked like he was just reading from a script and then following the script with his acting. I think he should have used his natural accent as he was not really good in trying to force an accent. I think gradually he got into the role and he improved eventually, but in my honest opinion, I think someone like him who is novel (he did his best, don’t get me wrong) should not have been cast for such a lead role. He should have been given a lesser role.
Cleopatra was just natural actress that played the role so well. She was the centre of the story and you could see innocence and inexperience in the role she played and empathise with her as if it was in real life. There were some scenes that I expected a bit better from her to carry that role but all in all, I am not sure if this is her first production or first major role, but I give her credit and I think she carried the storyline as a gullible young Ghanaian girl that was looking for love and wanting a better life for her.
There were some supporting members of the cast that did well. I see that young boy with more tutelage and proper direction as being a potential star in the future. The friend to Afua, I am not sure about the accent, I think the wrong accent was chosen for her, but in terms of playing the role of a close friend, I think she did well, could have been better though!
Some of the minor characters like the police crew and even the Registrar were more or less just scripting and not really acting. In my view, acting should be with passion for the role, big or small and the viewer should believe what the cast is trying to portray and believe it is happening in real life. It should not be about cramming a script and more or less reading it out.
All in all, as I believe most of the cast in this production were novel in this industry, I think they tried their best in their individual roles. With the resources available to him, I think the Director did the best he could to ensure the plot of the story is achieved. What is important to me as a reviewer and critic in spite of short comings is if they were able to bring to life in a believable manner the plot of the movie and in my view I believe they did.
Picture Quality: The picture quality was average. In some scenes between changing pictures, there was a slight break and the transition was not smooth. Some of the shots were not too good and could have been better. I think for future productions, this should be looked at and taken more seriously. Yes the storyline of a movie is important, but for people that pay to watch a movie, they want to see good picture quality. We are in a technological age where all sort of things can be done to capture good pictures and unfortunately, this was missing in this movie. This should be a learning point.
Sound Quality: I do not like to go to a movie and hear unnecessary interference in the sound. From the beginning of the movie, the sound was buzzy in some scenes. The buzzy sounds were still eminent even in scenes where the cast were indoors. This is something that could have been dealt with post production and again, I think this should be a learning point for future productions. The sound need to be clear and all that should be heard are the voices of the cast and any special effects that are being used.
Overall performance: Personally, I believe that before any movie is shot, there should be research. Whilst at the end of the movie, someone was credited as an Immigration Officer, in the movie, we saw only Police Officers. The role of bursting arranged marriages is the job of Immigration Officers. In times past, the Immigration Officers attended with Police Officers, but nowadays, most Immigration Officers are arrest trained and attend such functions themselves. Whatever the case, Immigration takes the lead and this was not the case in this movie.
Again, I would have like a bit of more flesh as to how Afua came back to the UK especially as she was not married before she came back. Having being removed from the UK as an overstayer, it would take convincing evidence to get her back. I would have made Alan go to Ghana and do some kind of wedding and even meet her father. In this day and age, one does not just pull strings in the British Embassy and the next thing one arrives back in the UK. I would have also added a scene showing Afua depressed in Ghana and her seeing the real life style her father was living back at home.
Having said that, I think overall for a first attempt, it was a good movie such that a potential investor has looked into taking it into some countries. The storyline being relevant and the simplicity in which the story was told made people emphasise and feel sorry for the lead characters.
The question that remains is if I would recommend this movie as a critic and reviewer. In my honest opinion, there were shortcomings to the movie, most which have been highlighted above, but overall, the movie has a storyline that is relevant and is sensible. For instance people can take away different things from the movie eg investigating the Solicitor one uses before paying loads of money only to discover that they have been closed down for incompetency, that is a reality in present day UK. As a result of this, I would recommend this movie and for people to watch it with an open mind and learn lessons from it.
All that is left to say is well done to the cast and crew. I am looking forward to the next production and I believe that the issues that have been raised in this review would be considered. Research any area you want to portray, legal, medical, immigration, don’t rush to get the movie out. I keep re-iterating the words of my Pastor “proper planning prevents poor performance”. You are unique as this storyline shows and not in competition with anyone. Let the next production come out with a bang and I really look forward to reviewing that.
In conclusion, this was a good effort for a first timer and I look forward to future productions.
Watch the trailer:
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