The movie Wait a Minute premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 11thDecember 2015. On the red carpet were cast and crew of the movie, sponsors of the movie, Pastors and Ministers, Directors, Producers, Promoters, cast and stakeholders of London Nollywood, fans of Nollywood and members of the public.
Storyline: Wait a Minute apart from being a Nollywood movie is a Christian movie. In this movie the script writer tries to showcase how in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life particularly in the United Kingdom, we go about our business and even though God speaks to us and gives us visions, we miss God and do our own thing. The movie showcases how as a As a lady or woman, you give all your trust, your heart your ALL to a man and at the end of it all he ends up dumping you and leaving you heart broken. The movie also tries to stress that as a woman, in spite of all the societal pressures from your fiancée, family, friends, you still need to keep yourself pure and wait until you are married till you give yourself to any man sexually. The question is are there still good men out there? WAIT A MINUTE exposes it all.
The storyline is very relevant from the context of the faith of the script writer. As a Christian woman, it is sometimes difficult to draw the lines and know what to allow and what not to allow. Some men still have the old man alive in them and want to do things not permitted in the Christian faith. Added to these are societal pressures from even parents and they want to know if the woman is fertile and can bear children and as such encourage sex before marriage. I commend the script writer for being bold enough not only to write such a script but also to premiere the movie.
Cast: The cast included Olufemi Onabajo, Olakunle Oladeji, Brunhilda Diedericks, Beatrice Anyim, Andrea Saccardo, Bridget Ajayi, Nike Taiwo, Adetola Onabajo, Olamide Ajayi,Natalia Karah, Claude Hanbeth, Francis Coffie, Toyin Olu-Adebajo, Samantha Deacon, Mercy Okon Jemirifo,, William Agbettoh, Bukky Williams, Jacqueline Kings, Diana Reid, Tosin Adebiyi, Samantha Christian, Reese Maleking amongst others. The movie was written, produced and directed by Olufemi Onabajo.
Let me start on a positive note by commending the Director for using a combination of cast from various countries in the movie. In the Nollywood industry, if collaboration is properly done, it is a most welcome idea.
Having said that, most if not all the cast are new to the movie and Nollywood industry and that showed in the acting. Although I saw a few potentials for the future should they choose to continue in the industry, most of the cast need to fine tune their acting. What I saw in most parts the movie was that lines had been crammed and people came back reciting the lines. I did not see much passion, in most cases, the cast did not let me relate with them as the individuals they were playing and believe their story lines.
If people are to succeed in this industry and beyond, once a script has been given, the individuals need to take time and study the script and forget their own personalities and take on the allocated role they have been given. It takes time and sacrifice and one may even need to do this in front of their mirror.
I understand that some of the cast are not actually actors and to most if not all of them this was their first time acting so for effort, I would like to commend the cast. I would however like to encourage them that if they have a passion for acting and for the industry, they should not give up.
Picture Quality: The picture quality of the movie was generally good, but there were some scenes were the pictures were shaky. I also saw some scenes where the pictures were slightly out of frame. That is me as a critic being picky. With the exception of these few scenes, I don’t have complaints about the picture quality.
Sound Quality: For those that saw the movie, you would agree with me that there were issues with the sound. There were external interference that could have been reduced during post production. Also in some scenes the sound was bad, it was difficult to hear what was being said. I think this should be a lesson to the Producer / Director in his next movie. The sound has to be right. While in external scenes, the sound should be natural so for example if a busy train station with trains going up and down, the sounds of the trains are a welcome idea. What however is not permissible is buzzy sounds especially in external scenes. These can be cropped out or edited in post-production.
Overall performance: Overall, in spite of my criticisms (I have to be honest and say what I saw even though I was the MC for the night), I think for a first attempt overall, it was not a bad effort. There were definitely issues with the final production, but as a movie, there was a good storyline.
Another good point was that from beginning to the end, one could follow the story. The message was simple and no one was in doubt about the mind of the script writer. The passion of the scriptwriter for the issues raises were also obvious in the script itself.
One other thing I would like to commend is the positive and determined attitude of the cast. Firstly, the lead actor Joy was playing a role of certain things she had experienced and according to her found it difficult to act sometimes but had to put in her best. Also, the Director’s wife was playing the role of a pregnant woman and was actually pregnant and almost had contractions on set but kept going. To me one thing I saw amongst the cast of the movie was that they were a big family.
The question remains if I would recommend this movie. This movie is unique and not all people would like the storyline, but for those especially Christians, the movie is Biblical and the truth of the Word of God is brought out in its raw form. There were issues with the movies as I have highlighted, but like someone I know would say “No ringi, no tingi”. I honestly think this is a movie that needs to be watched.
Even if you are not a Christian, as a woman, why would you want to defile yourself when the man can walk away anytime? It is an evangelical tool amongst other things. There are other issue that could be taken away from the movie like pressures at work, depression and how one can deal with theses as a Christian, looking unto God and believing His Word.
For the above reasons, I would not hesitate to recommend the movie. I think people should watch it with an open mind and then look at themselves and evaluate their own situations.
To the Director, cast and crew, once more I say well done. At least, you had a dream and went out to actualize it. I look forward to your next production and I know it would beat this one as the glory of the latter house always surpasses that of the former!!
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loKhAi17Afs&feature=youtu.be
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