Friday, 19 June 2015

Review of London Premier of Princess Abiye's Saving Grace


The movie Saving Grace premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 19th June 2015. Prominent on the red carpet were Princess Abiye, Danny Erskine, John Remedy, Director Emmanuel Olabode, HRH and Chief Oyebade, Ruke Amata, Francis Uwadi, Nonso Nwaiwu, M A Benson, Florence Blaster Okonkwo, Ritike Alayande, Tolu Yesufu, Collins Archie Pearce, Kenneth Benson, and a host of other important people.
Storyline:  A story about a Radio presenter, a young widowed mother who has an undying love for Christ. Her radio messages that she hoped would lead to the salvation of many became more passionate, so passionate that she does not notice she was losing instead of gaining followers because of the content of the messages.
She didn’t see herself as a proof of God’s love, being a struggling single mother and a widow, but what she knew she wanted or needed was to win souls for Christ. Then a man comes along, and with engaging conversations, she was “lightened”.
Let me start by saying that I was impressed with such a storyline being a Christian story being told and told well in a Nollywood setting. It is a realistic story of how someone is passionate for Christ and yet the way she is spreading the gospel make people hate than love God. Having said so, I think that the story dragged on a little bit and should have been sharp and sweet.

The use of subtitles did not do the storyline justice either. This is because before someone spoke, the audience already knew what was going to be said making the storyline predictable in advance.  I would be dealing on the subtitle further in my overall comments about this movie.

Cast: The film starred Starring: Princess Abiye Tobin-Spiff, Eliza Okusanya, Chioma Toplis, Danny Erskine, John Remedy, Adaeze Etoniru, Udemba Abigail, irving Yolanda, Sanda Nicole, Boyeni Jennifer, Simao Stella, Simao Romeo, Simao Marisa, and many more. The film was directed by Emmanuel Olabode.

I would like to commend two particular people. The first is  John Remedy. John played the part of Gabriel who eventually became Angel Gabriel. Apart from where he kept referring to the Nigerian Naira as N played the part he was given very professionally and was able to convince those that were watching the movie. From pretending to fall in love with Grace (Princess Abiye) to the end where he was revealed as Angel Gabriel, permit me to say he nailed his role.

The second character I would like to commend is the man Danny Erskine himself. Previously, I had been critical of his Nollywood acting skills, but in the last two movies I have seen him, this included, he has been given roles he can identify with and I believe he did extremely well. Danny played the role of a Radio DJ. As a DJ he was natural, but when he started falling in love with Grace again I think he was cool, interpreted the script and acted in line with what the Director would have instructed.

Worthy of mention is the potential Nollywood and possible Hollywood actress of the future Eliza Okusanya. For her age, with the correct guidance, she can go places.

Picture Quality: The picture quality was generally good.  Pictures were clear and generally within the frame. There were one or two scenes where there were poor pictures, but apart from those, generally good picture qualities.

Sound Quality: With regards to the sound, again for most parts, the sound was of very good quality. I was beginning to panic at the beginning of the movie that the sound was so good. However, there were some external scenes where the sound quality was below par. However, on the whole, I think with relation to the sound, there were more positives than negatives.

Overall performance:  Firstly, I would like to deal with the subtitles. Disappointingly, there were too many spelling mistakes and in some cases, the cast were not saying exactly what was displayed on the sub titles. I believe that if sub titles are to be used, the titles and what is being said should be the same.
I would like to commend the Director and the cast and crew for a job well done. At the end of the movie, I had to give applause. Apart from the fact that I believe the movie dragged a bit, I could not find much fault with the movie.
The question remains if I would recommend this movie. Undoubtedly, the movie has a definite message and carries the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The movie is simple to follow and ticks all the boxes with regards to sound and pictures. I would recommend the movie and all that is left to say to the cast and crew is a big well done!!
Watch the trailer:

No comments:

Post a Comment