Review of Phillippa Abraham's Basira in London

The movie Basira in London premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 21^st August 2015. The attendance of this movie was unbelievable and in the words of the MC for the night DJ Abass, with an attendance of 1200 people, that was the highest record for a Nollywood premiere in the UK. The movie was shown in 6 screens so it was a challenge to identify people on the red carpet but in summary on the red carpet were the cast and crew of the movie as well as members of the public.

Storyline: An African woman Basira (Eniola Badmus) relocates to London with great expectations. She came in with her elderly husband and jilted him in the airport. All her efforts to "fit in" result in hilarious consequences.

Initially she did not realise that the job that was found for her was a cleaning job and as a proud lady that she was, she did not stay long in the job as she wanted a managerial job. She went on to a salon and before she even started she messed up and had to run away. She was desperate to get the right to remain in the UK. To what extent would Basira go? You need to watch the movie yourself for answers.

The storyline is one that is a common occurrence not only for Nigerians but for people from less developed countries who believe that once they get into the UK their lives would be better. On a daily basis, we hear of people risking their lives staying in different parts of the plane and dying of suffocation or trying to cross the Calais borders or hiding in trailers just to get into the UK to stay. These people go to any levels to regularize their stay including claiming asylum even where there is peace in their countries, doing arranged marriages etc. so Basira’s case is not a strange one.

I would like to commend Philippa for telling such a story that is real to life. However, there are one or two flaws that I saw in the story itself and this is just me being fastidious and the average person may not know.

At a wedding where three persons were to be arrested, you never send two Immigration Officers. The number of Officers must exceed the people to be arrested and in reality, the chances of Basira escaping would be nil as all the exits would be covered by Immigration Officers.

Worse still was the purported arrest by one officer of Basira in her house. Again this would not happen in reality and at least two officers would attend. In fact, if properly researched, you would find out that a team of six officers would attend to arrest Basira.

I am of the school of thought that for this industry to attain a place of excellence, we need to shoot movies that people can relate with and believe. More extras should have been used to make this part of the storyline look real. If Immigration Officers were in the audience today, they would have laughed. I used to watch soaps like The Bill and the setting and storylines reflect exactly how things are done in the metropolitan police.

Secondly, at the end of the scene in the lawyer’s office, the lawyer wore a wig over his suit and a s a lawyer myself, I questioned if he was a solicitor or a barrister. If a barrister he should not have worn the wig or should have dressed in a bib not a wig over a tie and suit.

I was seating close to a producer/Marketer from Nollywood Nigeria and one thing we both agreed was that the movie dragged on longer than it should have. I think parts of the movie should have been edited out to make the storyline short and sweet. That said, the storyline was full of comedy and people kept laughing all the time.

Cast: The cast included Eniola Badmus, Philippa Abraham, Timothy Byrne, Theodora Ibekwe-Oyebade, Ayo Oyebade, Riyike Alayande, Tolu Yesufu, Jason Abraham Junior, Destinee Anthony, Dapo Oloja,  Frank Williams and many more.

Let me start from the positives. There were two people that shone for me in the movie. Firstly was Eniola herself. She was the backbone of the movie and like Julius Agu cracked many ribs by making people laugh. I could not see any other person playing that role and I commend the casting Director for giving her the role and the Director Phillippa for bringing her role to life.

I have seen Tolulope Yesufu develop and I left this choice to my Producer/Marketer fro Nollywood Nigeria to make. I did not tell her about previous movies that Tolu had done, but she picked her as having a flair to act and playing the role properly. I would like to encourage Tolu to keep working hard as her potential would hit the skies.

Again having said that and I don’t want to break the morale of people who are trying hard to make it in Nollywood. There was a lot of scripted acting and by this I mean cast just cramming their lines and reciting them without any passion for the role that is being played. I saw some upcoming actresses that I have seen playing minor roles in some recent movies struggling to act and basically delivering lines.

My pastor says proper preparation prevents poor performance. One thing I have noticed in this industry is that people do not want to better themselves. Seeing a review like this should prompt people to go to acting classes even if for a few weeks but people think they are good enough when they are not. This being Phillippa’s first Nollywood job, I would not really blame her for casting such people, but we should get to a place in the Nollywood industry where if you are not good enough, you are just not good enough. I rest my case!

Picture Quality: The cinematography for this movie was generally good. There were no shaky pictures and generally pictures were within their frames. However, is some scenes, there was a slight gap between the close of one scene and the beginning of another. This usually lasted about two seconds.

Also of concern, were two scene where two people in one case Basira and Aunty Ifeoma (Phillippa) and in the other case Basira and Bose (Tolu) were having a conversation and for most parts of that scene all we saw was Basira. I believe proper editing can correct that and show both parties in the conversation.

Sound Quality: For a Nollywood movie, I am happy that the sound was good and there was no external interference. I was concerned at a stage when I heard a siren when the cast were inside a studio, but I discovered it was deliberate as it was meant to be that the photographer had called the police.

I also commend the wisdom of the Director for not allowing the cast actually converse this not having problems with interference in public places like the Rye Street Market.

However, my friend from Nollywood Nigeria who reviewed this movie with me was concerned about lips moving sometimes before sound and vice versa in some scenes. I believe that can be corrected in editing.

Overall performance:  Overall, in spite of my little critics, the film was a very good movie. It was comical and I read some of the comments on Bella Nigeria and in my view they were just a figment of the imagination of the writers. People kept laughing and could not leave their seats to the extent that there was a queue in the ladies toilet after the movie.

I would say a big well done to Phillippa who wrote the script, directed and produced it as well as the cast and the crew for a job well done!

The question remains if I would recommend this movie. As a reviewer and critic, and without a doubt, I would recommend this movie. As an individual, I would watch the edited and shorter version of the movie any day anytime

Once more well done to the team

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krBkDTlTk5k

Review of Francis Uwadi's London premiere of Oga Detective

The movie Oga Detective premiered at the Broadway Theatre Barking on Saturday 1^st August 2015. Prominent on the red carpet were HRH Theodora and Chief Oyebade, Francis Uwadi, Nonso Nwaiwu, John Remedy, Tolulope Yesufu, Toksy B, Ruke Amata, Malcolm A Benson, Danny Erskine,  Mr and Mrs  Osabutey, Toyin Moore, Fred Aseroma and Mrs Aseroma, Riyike Alayande, Florence Blaster Okonkwo, cast and crew and members of the public

Storyline: Mr Joe Jack (Samuel Fafunwora) drops dead from a heart attack after a sip of drink in the bar with friends (Sibngile and Jab). Two inexperienced detectives one from Africa DC Moja (Nonso Nwaiwu) and the other from the UK DC Cars (Vinga Lucia) are tasked by the Chief Superintendent Smith (Danny Erskine) with investigating why he died. They suspect poison but who would want to kill Mr. Joe?

According to the Director’s brief on the movie, Oga Detective is a movie that brings changes. It is a movie that is created to suit different ethnic groups. Oga detective is a film of suspense, a movie one cannot predict. It demands high concentration to understand the story which is the purpose of film and it is needed to make difference to other films the Nollywood industry is used to. Oga detective is a film created with various genre such as drama, comedy and action with a lot of funny clumsiness and slapstick. The shooting angles, the coloration and music are applied to suit the purpose of the Director.

That said I sat down and watched the movie and although I was MC for the night, I would be objective in my review. Although I passed this message at the beginning of the movie to the audience and it was re-echoed by the Director, Francis Uwadi, I am of the opinion that there should have been some form of disclaimer in the movie stating the intentions of the Director.

The movie was definitely not realistic as most of the things displayed in the movie were unrealistic. Probably that is what the Director referred to as Slapstick. I was confused how DC Moja (Nonso Nwaiwu) arrived from Nigeria and was talking with someone and the next thing we see is he is a DC. I was told by one of the cast that it was an exchange programme between the two nations. There was nothing to show that.

Let me look at some other incidents of concern, Would not look at everything but those that saw the premier can conclude themselves. Again looking at the styles of DC Moja beating people to get a confession and even clearing CCTV is unheard of in a country like the UK. As if that was not bad enough, the DC went on air and confessed to his style of getting evidence and was proud of it claiming he got results. I really did not understand the mind of the Director and where he was going with this.

The Nollywood industry is an evolving industry with foreign actors wanting a piece of the action by adding Nollywood to their cvs. Our premiers are beginning to attract people from various nationalities especially Britons so when we show a movie, people need to understand what is going on and things need to be real so people can appreciate what is happening and follow the movie.

If like the Director claimed that he wanted to do something different, if I were the one, after such scenes, I would put a disclaimer and probably an image of someone laughing to show that what just happened was not real, that would even add to the comedy. Calling the unprofessional forensics to a crime scene before the police, punching people or beating people without any wounds or blood all ended up confusing me. I have thought hard and fast and actually revisited the Director’s brief, but seriously speaking I don’t see how this movie at least not in the positive way is unique from what we are used to watching as Nollywood movies.

Cast: The movie boasted of Samuel Fafunwora, Nonso Nwaiwu, Vinga Lucia, Danny Erskine, Riyike Alayande, Nnena Ani, Posh D, Adaeze Etoniru, William Kemeh, Harmand Yogon, Mabel Osabutey, Gift Boyo, Fred Ebere and many more.

I think the cast list was too much and some members of the cast did not add value to the movie and could be done without. I am a fan of Nollywood collaborations, but again I believe the cast must understand the industry. Some of the foreigners of the cast just read their lines in my view and did not act their roles as I would have expected.

I would like to mention two people that impressed me. Firstly, a big thumbs up to Nnena Ani. I am informed that this is the first lead role she is playing in Nollywood. She was given what I consider to be a difficult part having to stammer and still act and did she do it well, o YES well done. If she continues in this way and keeps improving, she would be a star.

Nonso Nwaiwu, I did not expect any less from you. You are just a natural comedian and you showed that in this movie, You made the audience laugh and in my view you carried the whole movie with your character. On a lighter note watch what you eat and stop farting in public.

On the flip side, the nurse was more or less making noise and not acting (sorry to be blunt, but that is my job). Again I would like to see more acting and less of scripts from Samuel. The likes of the news casters and even the accompanying police officers and even DC Cars in my view don’t understand the concept of Nollywood and in my view crammed up their lines and did not really impress me. Would have wanted a touch of some kind of flavor from them.

Picture Quality: There were issues with the picture quality with some pictures outside the frames and some shaky. All I would like to say is that in future productions, the picture quality can be better. Having said this, it was not a bad attempt.

Sound Quality: In the premiere of this movie, a lot of the sound was distorted as there was a lot of external interference. I understand that post production costs a lot of money, but I believe the interference was  too much that some post production would have helped. In future, in my view ,it is important to count costs before making a movie. People love to come and enjoy movies with clear sound. Unfortunately in this movie that was not the case.

Overall performance:  We were informed by the Director Francis Uwadi that the movie is a television series and that over four hours of footage had to be edited to two and a half hours. I observed that important scenes were cut off and that for most of the movie, there was no correlation between acts. In other words, one thing did not lead to another as scenes were cut off. In some cases, it became obvious where the scenes had been cut as a character started something and half way when the audience was trying to follow that part of the story got terminated. I think that should be reviewed.

When I watch a movie, I expect to go away with a theme of some kind or a message. Getting half way through the movie such a message should be obvious. In this movie, I cannot tell what the theme or message if the movie was (Please correct me if I am wrong)

The question remains if I would recommend this movie. As a reviewer and critic, and without prejudice to the intents of the Director, I cannot recommend this movie. The Director may have his thoughts, but at the end of the day it is all about the audience not only understanding the storyline but being able to line up and align with the storyline. I agree there was some comedy in the movie and that is fine but the storyline itself is so unbelievable and unrealistic.

In my view, Nollywood is a brand and we should be telling stories that address issues that are relevant with the end of the story portraying a resolve to such issues. If police brutality was the theme of this movie and it definitely was not, it should end with the fact that it would not be tolerated. I appreciate the heart of the Director Francis, but I think your concept in this movie is faulted. One can attempt what the Director tried to achieve but with a clear and concise storyline that is realistic.

 Watch the trailer:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYBnOg_67o