Mafian Lady

My theory that a good movie can only be made with a good director is heavily supported by this movie. Movies that have a bad story or terrible actors can still be saved but an inexperienced or just plain bad director can sink a film. However when there is talent, there is talent and the scriptwriter and story of this movie has talent. Bad movies aren’t only movies that are completely hopeless; they also include movies that have so much potential that an average to mildly bad approach pushes it to the bottom of the barrel.

The story is great, original and not predictable. It was slowly revealed and had a satisfactory conclusion. It’s a testament to the story that no matter how it will drag, no matter how it will bore the pants off you, you still are glued to it. The story makes it impossible to turn off although every nerve in your body wants to. The characters are haphazardly characterised though, motivations are not properly explained and there is no direct cause and effect. It was really irritating because they didn’t show how the characters caused this, lots of vital detail was missed. It breaks the principle rule of film making: don’t tell, show/demonstrate-this isn’t a classroom, movies are about illustration. Especially don’t tell two scenes after thus leaving the viewer scratching their heads. The pace was so slow; the first half of the movie took place within an hour. It was boring and very badly handled. Yet the script was good, all these problems stem from the director including the ill-advised decision to do a climactic scene sight unseen. Its spots of genius happened because of the story or because of the acting and despite the director. On the other hand, the fact that the script writer and the directing came from one person, this story may not be as good as it appears.

As mentioned above, the acting certainly did not slack in this movie bar one. The extras and supporting actors were good to average, not a bad one in the bunch. Keira Hewatch did her thing, Angela Okorie did her ghetto thing, and Kelvin Ikeduba did his thing.  Most impressive and natural was Lydia Fews, her star really needs to rise because she gave a very good performance. However, Bryan Okwara stuck out like a sore expressionless thumb. He looks to be doing the Van Vicker thing, so good to look at that it takes a while to realise he cannot act properly. He is getting better but not fast enough.

The soundtrack is awesome, really catchy and engaging. The settings seem to be fall flat but this doesn’t include the ghetto which was varied. When they weren’t in the ghetto, they were only in one house and that was very boring.

In conclusion, once you start this movie you must finish it. This is a long arduous task for an interesting story and great actors. It has some comedic scenes and everyone else but the director deserves commendation. I will be watching out for more from this team. But the title though…Just no.