Grey Dawn

There’s a thing about Shirley Frimpong-Manso films that most are probably accustomed to at this point. The silence. There’s not a lot of noise or music so the only saving grace for the movie is the movie. What does this mean? If a sparrow production story is slow inherently, then the movie will come out as tedious and dragged out. If it is an alright movie, without the music it will seem to drag for many. Only when the movie is really great will it shine in this format.

Grey Dawn tells the story of a minister who feels the need to resign in order to fix his family. The minister, played by Bimbo Manuel, has spent his entire political career being upright. So much so that when his father-in-law is in trouble with the law, he does nothing to save him. This affects his wife and her perspective of him and they begin to grow apart. She meets a young man. Then his daughter, who has ongoing rivalry with her mother, returns from the states and the entire family continues to pull further apart.

Even though Grey Dawn is essentially a familiar storyline, it is still different in a sparrow production kind of way. The silence is not as piercing and torturous in this movie as it has been in some sparrow production movies in the past. The first of this movie is a bit slower than the last but even at that it manages to keep you entertained.

To state it simply, if you sit and watch Grey Dawn uninterrupted from start to finish, it’s a good movie. However, if you ever have to stop midway to do something, the odds of returning to the movie are much less. This is as a result of that lack of extra drama that nollywood movies (and basic mainstream cinema) tend to have, as well as a lack of an enchanting enough storyline.

Sika Osei and Bimbo Manuel were the stand out performances in this movie. Funlola did seem a bit less real in the role than others did and Marlon Mave’s performance waned in and out initially but by the end he had a solid footing.

The production quality of the movie was immaculate and the music was something I’d love to have on my playlist. Grey Dawn was a fair enough movie with a warped ending that might make you start to think that this world is simply for the rich and the poor are just pawns.