MOVIE RUN By Shaibu Husseini

PERSONAL ASSIGNMENT

Producer- John Chukwu Ani

Director- Ndubuisi Okoh

Actors- Francis Duru, Bruno Iwouha, Chinwetalu Agu, Larry Koldsweath, Rita Tony Edochie and others

Morning. The gong wailed and the benevolent Nwafor is confirmed dead. It was obvious from side talks that Nwafor’s kinsmen, among them Egbo (Larry Koldsweath), Ani Obodo (Chinwetalu Agu) and Adaoga (Rita Edochie) were responsible for his death. Someone confirmed it when he declared at the venue of the final burial rites that some people ‘kill and cry’.  Weeks later, Melunwu (Francis Duru), Nwafor’s son is killed ostensibly to pave way for his uncle and aunt to descend effortlessly on Nwafor’s wealth. But Agbonma (Kelechi Koko), Nwafor’s only surviving child takes on the murderers from here through to the land of the living dead. She triumphs and the movie ends

 This is good. It is not particularly a breezy account but it has a fair share of remarkable asset. One of his strong points is the variety of imagery and then the quality of acting. The lights worked too. It helped in mood setting and in creating a story telling ambience at the start and why not? The lighting here has the signature of one of Nigeria’s significant lighting designers Molinta Elendu. The ace lighting designer pulled off something substantial here, as if to show some of his junior colleagues on the turf how this is done. Kelechi Koko who played Agbonma had a good run here even though her outing does not make her a stunning actor. But Duru was believable same for Chinwetalu Agu who has proven over time that he can be relied upon. He drops off something new in every performance.

But ‘Personal Assignment’ lost it structurally from the point where the cross to take on the ‘murderers’ was passed to Agbonma to bear. The battle especially when the tradition from where the story was adapted from or situated is to be considered would have been left to Melonwu and not his sister Agbonma. So what we would have had was a situation where it would have been Melonwu and not Agbonma that would have made the long trip to the groove. There is an assertion that women from that environment hardly take on such battles and even when they do, they are never left unhurt.

LIVING DEAD

Producer – Ugo Emmanuel and Alex Okeke

Director  - Ekenna Udo Igwe

Actors – Kanayo Kanayo, Edith Jayne Azuh, Robert Peters, Franca Brown, Chinwetalu Agu and others.

Chris (Kanayo Kanayo) a notorious drunk is jobless. Adaobi (Franca Brown) his elder sister holds strongly that Patricia (Edith Jayne Ayologu) Chris’s dutiful wife is responsible for her brothers low state. Somewhere in the story Chris disappears after one of his usual drinking runs. He is declared missing. The Police acting on an earlier description of Chris, found a headless body on the street and declared even though unprofessionally that it was the remains of the wanted Chris. Patricia heads to the village for the burial rites. There she is accused of ritual murder and forced to undergo some very awry pre-burial rites. But for the Police she would have been stoned to death ‘as custom demanded’. Anyway Chris stages a dramatic comeback later. His tale was that he was picked up by the Police for wandering. Adaobi is arrested for what the improperly dressed police officer said was ‘inciting to commit murder’ while Ikuku (Chinwetalu Agu), the false messenger of the gods who had pronounced Patricia guilty ‘as charged’ was picked up for ‘false information’. Pat returns to the city and ‘Living Dead’ as Chris was later called returns to make amends.

This is well told and Ekenna Igwe takes credit for helming the show together. It may not be an athletic account but it’s a thoughtful exploration about how not to be cruel and an expose on some harmful traditional practices. It has some intensely crafted seriousness and some intriguing shot and dramatic moments that kept the suspense level slightly high. However the movie is likely to try the patience of its viewers because it was too much of everything. It is this habit of having everything play out in a single diet that may have informed Ekenna’s decision not to eliminate that shot where the camera revealed a safety pin that helmed the bra of his lead actress.

But this is good. Viewers would likely find themselves discussing the movie days after it taxies off. Here performance particularly that of the make up person and some of the lead actors measured up all round. But it was Kanayo Kanayo and Edith Ayologu who stole the show. They gave an engaging performance, which is likely to get a few people sobbing even when they didn’t ask for it.

Go get Living Dead. It’s a good attempt. You really don’t get to see a movie that is this engaging here all the time.