Movie Review: Deepest of Dreams

Title: Deepest of Dreams

Starring:Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Majid Michel, Tonto Dike Geredine Ekeocha, Prince Eke

Producer: Azuka Odgngkwe

Director: Tchidi Chikere

Story/screenplay: Tchidi Chikere

Year of production: 2009

Genre: Drama

Language: English

Country: Nigeria.


Preamble: Tchidi is a very inconsistent writer and director. Sometimes he slams it out of the park and sometimes, he screws things up. Let me by saying that in my opinion, this was a slam dunk, a grand slam, a home run! What I wonder though, is why he had to give such a good movie such a ridiculous name. Who names these things? I almost did not watch it. And yet, what a good movie it turned out to be!

Story: Catherine (Omotola Jalade Ekehinde) is a young girl who lives with her mother (Geredine Ekeocha) and her sister Debbie (Tonto Dike). Problem is, Catherine has been badly disfigured in a car accident that killed her father and left her with facial scars and a bad limp. Now she considers herself ugly and suffers from very low self esteem. Her situation is not helped by her beautiful sister Debbie who misses no opportunity to put her down. Into this dysfunctional setting walks the very handsome and rich Omar (Majid Michel) who for some inexplicable reason seems to be very attracted to the ugly duckling Catherine, much to Debbie’s chagrin. How does it work out for the three of them?

Trailer (although this trailer is pretty bad - a cut and join job if you ask me. Makes no sense!!)



Review
Positives: Omotola is one of Africa’s top actresses for a reason – she can act. SHE CAN ACT! Dang!! I loved her in this movie – loved her. Her vulnerability, her self loathing - there were times she almost moved me to tears. She was clearly the star of this flick. I cannot lie – she pulled it off big time. I have never been a big fan of Tonto Dike’s but with performances like this, she is starting to win me over. She was excellent as the beautiful spoilt brat of a sister with clear feelings of entitlement. And Majid – sauve, handsome, compassionate and yet, conflicted – veeeery nice! I loved the casting of this movie. Honestly, I have no complaints about any single cast member. Even the doctor (Prince Okah), I think did really well. Most delightful!
I loved the story. While it was kinda cheesy, it was also very sweet, and yet not totally predictable. I did not really expect some of the events that took place, so I really liked that. I loved the fact that Tchidi was able to take a very simple story, requiring such few cast members, and yet make something so engaging out of it. Good job.

Negatives: First, Omotola’s make up. Yeah it made her look funny, but why was the supposed burn green? Abi was it just my eyes? It was green!! They needed to do a better job with the burn victim story and associated make up. Haba!! Secondly, Tchidi needs a better camera. Yes, the pink spot is gone, but his camera is definitely not the same standard as the one Vivian Ejike used in Silent Scandals. That was a pretty film visually. In this one, the picture quality not as crisp. Tchidi, you need a new camera!!
Thirdly, while I have heard frequent complaints about Tchidi singing in all his movies, I have not really seen his stuff of recent. Well, in this one, we were subjected to the dude singing some really corny tune, while basically telling the story of the movie. Too cheap to pay someone to write and sing a decent sound track? Na wah o.
And then, as I earlier mentioned, there is the stupid name of this movie. Eventually, I figured out why they gave it that name, but its still stupid – honestly. If you take the time to make such a good movie, then take the time to name it properly!

There were also some scenes that were too long - of Catherine walking all over the place for instance - normal Naija movie problems.

In general though – darned good movie. Very nice. I highly recommend it.

Themes and Worldview: This is what I loved most about this movie – its realistic depiction of the role of physical attractiveness in getting people through even the more mundane activities in life. There is a powerful scene where Omotola’s character weeps as she wonders why nobody sees past her ugliness and sees the person inside, why noone believes that any good thing can happen to her. “I am a good person; I am still here” she wept. It was touching, and it hit me on a visceral level, because we are all guilty of this: judging people by what we see – beauty and race being the most obvious characteristics. The film so artfully captured the pain suffered by people who are rejected for attributes they have no control over. Very touching. And even beyond art, the themes in this movie have some powerful real world applications: For instance, study after study have shown that better looking people get better jobs, and are likely to be treated better in general

As one character in the movie said “Yes, beauty is only skin deep, but no one told me how deep that skin is.” In other words, we are all potentially very shallow people, ignoring the person inside because of the outer packaging. Even in the bible, GOD had to teach the same lesson to one of his prophets saying “man looks at the outward appearance, but GOD looks at the heart”.

Great story, powerful lesson, much food for thought.

Rating: 8/10.

More reviews available here and here.

Availability: Big three.

Movie Review: Love My Way

Title: Love my way

Starring: Jim Iyke, Genevieve Nnaji, Tonto Dike, Kalu Ikeagwu.

Producer(s): Anthony Nwatu

Director: Ikechukwu Onyeka

Year of production: 2008

Country: Nigeria.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Language: English


Summary: Genevieve Nnaji is Keyla, Tekena (Jim Iyke)’s fiancé. She has just lost her her mother, and her grief appears to have pushed her off the deep end as she buries herself in smoking, drinking and partying. She is also not in the least bit domesticated. She refuses to cook and clean house, and refuses all entreaties by Tekena to get her to face her grief and get help. Tekena loves her, but really struggles with who she is, and they both wonder separately if they should marry each other or not. Tekena’s best friends are Doctor Richard (Kalu Ikeagwu) and coworker Oge (Tonto Dike), who coincidentally has a huge crush on him(Tekena). Keyla decides to travel to Abuja and take some time off to go clear her head and make some decisions (against Tekena’s wishes). Tekena, as he suffers with missing her and worrying about her, flirts with the idea of an affair with his best friend Oge. They are interrupted with the news that Keyla has been in an accident. Keyla has no memory of her life before the accident, and in particular, no memory of Tekena. She also appears to be a totally changed women – domesticated, sweet, caring, in total contrast to the old Keyla. Tekena finds himself falling in love with this sweeter version of his woman. What is really going on with Keyla? Will this love last? And how does Oge deal with Tekena’s newfound devotion to Keyla?

Trailer:



Review
Positives: It’s a sweet love story, if rather predictable. Once Nollywood discovered the technology to put a person on the same scene twice, aka the twin genre – they have felt the need to beat it to death. You couple that with the way they have overused the amnesia story, and this story is not new, at all! However, some of them are better than others, and this I think, is one of the better ones. You always think of Jim Iyke as this rough neck bad boy, with his brash, rude, loud and obnoxious ways, both on and off screen. To my surprise though, he was really sweet in this one. He is tender and sensitive - every woman’s dream- and he pulled it off really competently. Genevieve played two roles in this movie – the bad girl, and the sweet girl, and she was believable in both roles, which have become her bread and butter in Nollywood. Kalu played the doctor and the best friend, and fourth member of the complicated love quadrangle. As usual, he was very eloquent, and somewhat nerdy and yet so sexy. You gotta love him!! And Tonto, she was really beautiful in this one. Played the role of friend and rejected lover very nicely. Like I said, sweet love story.

Negatives: Keyla has no physical injuries, yet she is in a coma, and she conveniently wakes up with Amnesia? And then, she passes out and conveniently remembers everything? Grrrrr!! Nollywood has yet to figure out this illness and hospital thing without bungling it. Obviously no research was done as usual.
As for Tonto Dike – “innit”? “Deja voir”? Worraheck is all that? If you cannot speak a different language, don’t try. Some of the supporting actors were also not up to the level of the main actors. For instance, Oge’s friend and confidant, you could see her struggling to hide her laughter. And the Doyin guy – obviously they just picked some waka pass guy. Lowered the quality of the production in my opinion.

And the whole idea that Nigerian men just jump on a woman and wham, bam, wham bam!! That was Jim Iyke with Oge – 5 seconds flat and he is on top of her, unbuckling his belt. And the same with Keyla – 2 minutes flat and he is on top of her! Ever hear the word foreplay? And yet they had Oge crying to her friend, mourning about how fantastic and unforgettable the experience was! I was like, na wah o!!

And the names : Keyla and Keyline? When will Nigerian movies start really rocking Nigerian names ehn?
The explanation for the whole mixup at the end was kinda trite, not really imaginative. The dreams and sleep talking – another cheap plot cop out. And the way everything just happened to get resolved at Richard’s hospital – cheap, cheesy, easy!!

The problem is the need to wrap everything up in a bright red bow, with a nice, complete emotionally satisfying ending. The ending was cute, generous, sweet, but cheap. But it’s just a movie I suppose, a guilty pleasure, not meant to capture any of life’s ambiguities. Although when you really think about the way it ended, it kinda makes you go ewwww!!


Lessons/worldview/philosophy: Everything happens for a reason and could perhaps work out of good – even horrible things like accidents. And for the hopeless romantics out there, true love will always find you. The lesson we learn from Oge’s relationship? If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!!

Rating: 7/10

More reviews : here and here

Availability: Big three.