Ikogosi

Could this movie have been better? To say it could have been better is to assume that it had something good to start with. It did show a little promise; not in effort but the intricate and controversial nature of the themes it tried to dwell on.  So yes it could have been better if it had been developed by more capable hands. It felt like the combination of the promotional for a holiday resort and relationship drama. Yes, the weekend getaway formula. It’s saddening that the number of attempts at copying Tyler Perry’s Why did I get married far exceeds the total success level of all of them put together. I am completely for promoting Nigerian tourism but the movie was quite unfounded on the most part. I would not say however that it was a hundred percent flawed. There was a little bit of struggle evident to make something out of the rubble of storylines presented.

Starting the movie was a little promising. I actually believed that I was in for something good for the first 5 minutes until I began to get the relationship drama symptoms. 1) Introduce more than three couples 2) ensure their dialogue is indicative of their relationship problems and does not leave anything for the viewer to interpret or speculate on his own.  3) Unnecessary sex and make out scenes (or related dialogues).  The movie began to drown slowly in its flaws; poor acting, little to no character development, poor attention to detail, misguided direction. So it became disappointing, as I began to get the feel of too many characters and story lines that seemed forced into each other. The logic to the story did not hold water on the most part. A lot of the conflicts were poorly rooted and seemed quite childish only for the most random exposition in the end to stimulate a resolution. Urgh! Most of the problems the couples were perceived to have could have been developed and connected better. The movie ended up being 75 minutes which felt like three hours and I fell asleep way too many times. The dialogue was lazily written but fortunately did not slip in too many promotional lines and mini commercials of Ikogosi warm springs.

Apart from the lack of a comprehensive and cohesive story, poor acting and direction was most of the movie’s downfall. At a point I felt like I was watching some of the independent web series that flood YouTube these days. (Yes, I said it!). I would not say the same about the make-up and costuming though. The movie did look quite pretty. I definitely adored most of the outfits and the scenery did justice to promoting the resort quite well. The musical score was quite good and was able to compensate for the inadequacies of the acting and the script.

The other story lines (from the other couples) were definitely not necessary but that of the two sisters (Emem and Emilia) had enough potential to be developed and focused on. The other story lines were probably included with the intention of creating more suspense but it only dragged the movie back and prevented the main story line from being developed satisfactorily. The main character, proposed as Emilia, should have been played by a stronger actress who could display a stronger range of emotions. This was my first time watching her and frankly I could tell she was acting. Most of the characters lacked definition, making a lot of the story lines amorphous and the resolutions underwhelming. I was distracted from who was supposed to be the main character. The only actress that I could speak for was Chelsea Eze. Her acting was good but you could tell that she was trying a lot of times. I wasn’t sure if her character was supposed to be moody or she was just completely bored on set.  I.k Ogbonna’s character completely lost me. I know they were trying to make him Mr. Mysterious but his character development slacked. More so, he lacked the ability to make us understand his character. It seemed like he didn’t understand it himself. This made him seem like a wondering presence in the movie, completely losing his root in the story line even though his face was on the front cover for the movie on IROKO TV.

I never thought I would say this about a Nollywood movie but it was too short. There were enough dimensions to the plot to develop and the resolutions definitely deserved more set up. On another hand it means less torture so I guess it was best.Though the there are enough stories about relationships and marriage that definitely need to be told, they have been done so many times. This indicates the need to make movies around such topics that add more dimension and tell the stories in different and unexpected ways.

I would not advise committing time to watching this movie unless you are bored. Completely bored.