Behind A Smile

-Originality: [1 out of 5] The story explores a motif that has definitely been explored in Nollywood over and over again (think about that Ramsey Noah movie where he falls in love with blind Stella Damasus who is into pottery and church) but it does it with a not so typical ending this time 

-Predictability: [2 out of 5] Yes! The little aspects in the movie were a given (like Majid’s falling for Nadia and dumping Omoni and Jim Iyke getting what he deserved in the end) but the end was not what anyone would have predicted. I’d never have predicted that Marah, Nadia’s character, would turn out to be a whore who falls so easily for the guises of Majid, Jim Iyke’s character.

-Directing/Editing: [2 out of 5] Love the fact that it was a two part movie. Getting things done in two parts is a feat I will continue to extol in our movie makers. No apparent cinematography, then again it’s 2009 (but that’s no excuse… what year was “letters to a stranger“? “White Waters“?? “The Perfect Picture“???). I have a big problem with the lines in this movie (as I do with almost all other Frank Rajah screenplays). And my problem is…. NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT! The annoying thing was that this movie is not set in like ancient days (even though in Ancient days Africans didn’t speak like folks in England-Victorian Era), it is set in modern day. And the Shakespearean bull was not even consistent. One minute it’s “Yo! Whatsup” next minute is “Do thou as thou pleaseth”…oh puh-lease. Meanwhile, no one explained to me how Nadia, in her cripledness, was able to get electricity and water… the food’s all fine and dandy but I know she wasn’t living without light

-Acting quality: [3 out of 5] Most of the extras couldn’t act (and by extras the only ones I remember are the gateman, Omoni’s character’s sister and Esther Audu). The only acting extra was Esther and I’d say that she has indeed come a long way in her career. Although most of us only noticed her after her appearance alongside Chacha, Mercy and Majid in “Two Hearts“, she has been in the game since “Hidden Treasure” (or probably even earlier). Majid played his role out perfectly well. I wish Jim Iyke would stop doing the Jim Iyke for one minute (Define “the jim iyke”: the act of constantly being a betrayer, a bad boy or the antagonist of every given movie) and select better (more diverse) scripts like he did in “Before God and Man“. I loved Omoni in this movie, I think she did her role justice. It’s good to see Gloria Anozie Young back on our screens (even though she is not really back as this is a 2009 movie). Jibola Dabor! Hmm… to think he was in this movie since and nobody really noticed him till he started getting incestous. And Nadia o dear Buari, my sincere apologies really because turns out you are not such a horrid actress afterall. She did her role justice, she was no Genevieve but she is definitely no Biola Ige.

-Setting: [3 out of 5] Good

-Costume/Make-Up: [2 out of 5] Whoever was responsible for Majid’s burn makeup needs to be fired. The thing was so tackily done that in fact all the fake additions were peeling of his actual skin as he spoke. The other thing I didn’t get was Omoni’s wedding dress. She comes back from shopping one day and tells her mother she has bought a wedding dress and then she pulls out, from some paper bag, a crumpled ball of white fabric surrounded by white net. And I’m thinking, first of all… don’t they usually just hang up wedding gowns? I mean who folds ’em? And secondly, for the daughter of someone who can afford to dash her daughter’s lovers 5 mill then she can definitely afford a better dress than that crumpled white night gown.

-Video Quality: [3 out of 5] Ok

-Soundtrack: [4 out of 5] Amazing! It is a given that in 2008-9, Austine Erowele made the best soundtracks and he made them for Frank Rajah movies… now ofcourse Bernie Anti seems to have borrowed that torch.

-Musical Score: [3 out of 5] Nicely done