Fading

In Fading, Chino Marchie shows us that there’s more to a love story than boy meets girl, girl/boy likes boy/girl, insert conflict, insert overcoming, and they lived happily ever after.

Fading is the story of a mother, a wife and an accomplished author who finds herself battling with a terminal illness. However, the story is not a story of dying neither is it a story of fighting an ailment. By the time the end credits roll around, you do get the overwhelming feeling that you have just watched a love story – a love story between a husband and a wife, a mother and her children, a sister and a sister, and so much more.

Even though from the moment the movie starts, the story is predictable, it still manages to capture you because of the lens from which it is told. The focus on the nucleus and the writers ability to express unspoken love through the actions and the minutiae of the actors, is what really takes this story from just another sad movie to one that you might be inclined to remember. Ivie Okujaye as Paulette here reminds us of why we love her with her elegant control of even the strongest of emotions. She performs here in such a way that even the cynical might find themselves unconsciously shedding a tear. Eddie Watson, as Dubem, is not at his worst (because we have seen that and we remember that and we will never forget those days), but unfortunately for him he is not strong enough to not appear lacking in the same frame where Okujaye is scattering emotions.

While the raw story and its lead female were its strengths, some aspects of the production were its greatest weaknesses. The first thing that hits you while watching the movie is how shabby the lighting is. There are legitimate scenes where you cannot make out the features on the faces of the actors on screen simply because there is no light in this scene – just darkness, raw darkness. The music in this movie, though, does attempt to make up for other flaws as it manages to avoid the nollywood habit of overwhelming the audience with emotional music in sad scenes. Credit must be given to the music director for recognizing the strength of notes – as opposed to a whole orchestra – as well as trusting the actors to convey the emotions sufficiently – which they did.

Some interesting things also happened with this movie. For instance, the role occupied by Jude Orhorha seemed like almost like a waste as his character barely had two speaking scenes in the entire movie. There were also the scenes with interesting shots from the cinematographer that just seemed lost amidst the ‘regularness’ of the rest of the movie. At the end of the movie, Fading, you might find yourself shedding a tear or two. It’s a well told story that turned into a decent movie due to barely decent production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7878gn0YmU