Shirley Frimpong Manso's Love or Something Like that as a headline film of Nollywodweek 2015

Shirley Frimpong Manso's Love or Something Like that as a headline film of Nollywodweek 2015
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Saturday 5 May 2012

MOVIE RUN By Shaibu Husseini


DEADLY MISSION

Producer – Zeb Ejiro
Director – Andy Amanechi
Actor – Kate Henshaw Nuttall, Robert Peters, Benjamin Joseph, Bruno Iwouha, Tony Aleg, Gogo Ombo Gogo and others.

Whoever saw a female detective of Nigerian extraction demobilize a hunky male suspect in a manner only a Bruce Lee can? Here comes Rocky, the only lady in a team of three detectives sent on a mission to track down a notorious assassin. The Efik Princess on the movie run way Kate Henshaw Nuttal plays Rocky. She is in a lead performance in this racy (by industry standards) dramatic offering, which smacks off suspiciously as a remake of some of these cheesy American detective flicks with action sequences.

Here is the plot. A minister of an unidentified republic was reportedly assassinated and the police are after the assassin. They come close to tracking down the prime suspect but an unknown person shoots him in the process and he dies instantly. But later on in the flick, a bearded fellow walks off shot after laughing heartily suggesting that he may be behind the whole crime. The movie ends suggesting too that there would be a sequel to this political drama from the stable of Zeb Ejiro and movie land productions.

This loose but gorgeously looking Nigerian retelling is a joy to watch and the pure joy in this movie is in the lead characters-Kate Nuttall (Rocky), Robert Peters (Meche) and Benjamin Joseph (Dotun) who showed that they were not a bad pick for their individual roles. But it was Joseph as Dotun who held the movie together. He bursted into most frames sounding confident at every point.

This has a fair share of remarkable assets and a staying power that is likely to place the audience in a mood of heightened expectations. But it is marred by a number of improbable scenarios and poor lighting too. That fight scene between Rocky and a fellow in one of the scenes where a lady was nearly murdered is likely to leave viewers torn between irritation and anger. It nearly stained the credulity so well established by Henshaw’s earlier accurate performance. Indeed future film students would find that scene a case study of how not to sequence a fight scene. Find ‘Deadly Mission’. It’s a satisfying fare.

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IMPATIENCE 

Producer – Theodore Anyaji
Director  - Theodore Anyaji
Actors - Georgina Onouha, Bob Manuel Udokwu, Amaechi Muanagor, Emeka Onyiocha

Izu (Bob Manuel Udokwu) heads to the city in search of greener pastures. He has his mother Mama Izu (Chinwe Owoh) and a village beauty Abigail (Chidi Ihezie) his fiancée to cater for. Predictably providence brings Izu before a ‘money miss road’ ala an elder Jennifer played by the fast rising actress Georgina Onouha. In “Impatience” Jennifer is portrayed as a desperate whore who is in search of a chap with Izu’s description. Well Jennifer says she is simply “a liberated woman” and her understanding of liberation is to flaunt wealth at a stranger and force him into a relationship? Though tales abound on such occurrences but this was cheaply interpreted. Anyway from here one thing leads to another and they are soon in love. Izu now comfortable cuts off all forms of communication with his mother and Abigail. He returns to the village much later with a shocker for Abigail who though stunned like most members of Izu’s family accept her faith. The end of the road for Izu was when he discovers later after they have been joined in holy matrimony with Jennifer that she was a wolf in sheep clothing.

This looks so much like a story that has been over flogged. There are a number of movies with this tale about people heading to Lagos and jettisoning their vows. There are still a dozen others that make real the popular saying that  “all that glitters is not gold”. So the movie “Impatience” is not new at all. But there is an Anaemeke Okoro who is laying claim to the story when the major difference between this version and its predecessors is the treatment. In fact what Theodore Anyaji and his sponsors have merely done is to rehash and re-title one of those accounts, this time relying on a splendid cast that include Emeka Anyiocha (Osita) and the ageless actress Franca Brown (Mrs Ibekwe) of the Behind of the Clouds fame.

Those who have not seen a movie of like theme would find this a joy to watch. Theodore’s interpretation was refreshing but he was “Impatient” so played blind to some details, which left some of the scenarios illogical and fabulous. The acting was plausible save for this skinny fellow whom Anyaji always throws up to provide some form of comic relief. The lady who had a cameo as Dull Baby (she was not listed on the credit lines) provided an ‘annoying relief’ instead of the intended “comic relief”.

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