Crime Suspect

The littlest thing can destroy an otherwise (potentially) brilliant effort.

Frank Rajah is known for two things (in my opinion): stealing foreign movies and making suspense flicks. And he does both of them oh-so-well. Well… usually! I don’t know what went wrong with this movie. Too little investments? Too little time? But how do you guys overlook something that is critical to the framework of your movie?

Yvonne Nelson, John Dumelo, Nikki Samonas and Kofi Adjorlolo star in this attempt at a suspense flick. Mr Oforie has been murdered! Who killed Mr. Oforie (played by Kofi Adjorlolo)? All we, the viewers, have to go on is a scene in which Mr. Oforie is having sex with a supposed mystery girl. Cut scene. Return to scene. And Mr. Oforie is, to quote the officers, “lying in a pool of his own blood” (meanwhile the ketchup way dem use no even pase him singlet).

This would be a suspense if we didn’t notice that the girl in the prior sex scene had painted her nail in a distinct color-block pattern, and there was only one person in this movie with those nails. And no… I don’t over think things or over notice anything, I just saw the nails in the sex scene and saw them again after he died. Where is the suspense when we already know who killed him?

Asides from the careless giving away of the culprit before the movie even started, the movie also falls short with an inconclusive storyline. At the end of the movie, many questions are still left unanswered like ‘what becomes of Mr. Lawyer?’ ‘what is the meaning of Jenny’s threat?’ ‘who is this new son?’ (although we got a clue at the end but you need to be more specific about these things) ‘and how did this new son come about?’

Many scenarios in this movie are also extremely, how do I say, ridiculous. In which village, does someone murder a man and leave their underwear in the room. And what do the police officers mean by “there were no fingerprints left, the culprit did a good job”. Uhm… in the flashback, I clearly saw her wrap her hands around him. And how do you not get any DNA when he was having intercourse with the culprit 2hrs later. Haba! I doubt you guys have any DNA analysis facilities

Looking away from the negatives for a minute, the movie’s appeal arises mostly from three Cs: Cast, Crew and Colors.

Some like her, some don’t, most are indifferent, but whatever group you fall under I still strongly believe that Yvonne Nelson will have a very long career in acting simply because the camera loves her. They’re not that many African actresses that look as good as she does in front of the camera. No be say na she act pass, or she no sabi act but she commands the screen and her scarcity on screen simply serves to add to her appeal.

It was good to finally see John Dumelo in a reasonable role (somebody shout Hallelujah). It’s been nearly a year or half since he acted something worth watching. The disappointing fact, however, is that he didn’t put much into the roles. John Dumelo again did as John Dumelo does – drag. drag. lines. drag.

I liked Nikki in this role, then again she didn’t have that many scenes. The men playing the police officers were not much of actors. Most of the extras were terrible but Kofi Adjorlolo did a fabulous job with his role and I loved the lady who played Jenny.

The colors, the set, the costumes (oh Lord bless you Samira Yakubu) were all splendid and definitely added to the vibrancy of it all.

Special appearance by Bismark Odoi!

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