A Little Lie A Little Kill

The term 'film Noir' and its defining parameters is still an active global debate in film theoretical circles, nevertheless, director Tebo Njei aligning with the dark picture composition, crime and victim of circumstance aura identifiable in the film noir concept, unabashedly announces this attempt as the first Anglophone Cameroon film noir.  A Little Lie A Little Kill set in Buea (South West Region of Cameroon) engages its audience in a tale of love, friendship, betrayal and crime. Now while I don't know if indeed it's the first film noir but I sure do know this Cameroonian film captivated my attention. The technique and intricacies in narration espoused by the director is laudable, even though the acting prowess was quite lacking in some characters and doused the excitement somewhat; the dialogues are fair same as the location, sets and props. The cinematography indicates a thought process and an attempt at carving a personal directorial style which was sometimes challenged by the sound capturing and mixing (some of the background score was unnecessary). The story is indeed intriguing and captivating and the screenplay well penned but the conclusion I found depressing and I think could have been addressed differently for some realism. Nevertheless, its a well scripted film.  All in all I didn't feel the urge at any point to eject the CD from my DVD player in anger and break it as has been the case with countless other Anglophone Video films. Rather, I was impressed, it's an Ivan Nname production and I recommend it to all those avid to support Anglophone Cameroon film production.

Synopsis

Gerald accidentally meets Charlotte and falls for her even though they both have people in their lives. Gerald's fiancée Helen (who by the way is a thrill to watch) will stop at nothing to keep him under control, while Charlotte's crazy boyfriend (whom I found funny at some instances) is ready to rain down hail stones to keep her. Amidst all this how do these two Gerald and Charlotte manage to be together is what the plot unravels in this 110mins runtime captivating drama. Now while I cant let the cat outta the bag, I can guarantee you all that the final twist makes it worth the watch.

Hit me with your views on the movie.

Hard Decision

No doubt Cameroonian video film productions have a long way to go; however productions such as Hard Decision 1 & 2 by Molimi Cletus fill 0ne with hope.
A simple story about a young girl (Besumbu) who loses her father and is confused between two eligible suitors. Something happens and she goes mad and the power of love is revealed from either men.
Now as much as I commend the efforts we had a lot of technical issues such as poor continuity and camera management, the screenplay pulled on too long in the first quarter of the film and the dialogues lacked the crispiness that would have given an extra bounce to the production.
The acting needed serious time investment. Fioretta Cleare does her role as Besumbu well Molimi Cletus who played Ndip one of the suitors was too mechanical. Sah Keneth does his bit as Eboka one of the suitors but the other actors really struggle with dialogues and emotion.
Nevertheless the effort is commendable and i think it would make a great viewing. Go check it out!

Royal Destination - Movie Review

When it comes to homemade(Cameroonian) movies, before I slip the disc into the DVD player I say a silent prayer of hope that I wouldn't shudder with disappointment. Well one of the very few Cameroonian films I have watched so far which I can assure y'all that I could watch as many times as possible is this movie Royal Destination. Forget the Nigerian cast power, this film as compared to most 'Camer' movies had a sense of direction.The ending was commendably neat, the actors immersed in their roles, and the directors vision was applaudable.

The story
The story is divided into two part whioch connect at the end. Set in a kingdom the story is of a king in search of a male child to take over his kingdom less the kingly lineage be passed onto his brothers' side of the family and particularly to his unworthy nephew. With no hope of a remedy the King succumbs to heart failure and passes on. Thats where the drama begins in the Palace as his unworthy nephew forcefully takes over the kingdom and aims for his late uncles wealth. Emeka Ike plays the illegal son of the king who coincidentally comes into contact with the Kings' second daughter (played by Cameroonian rising actress Solange) and is led back to the palace to take his rightful place as heir to the kingdom.Tonto Dikeh plays the first daughter to the king who fights back to preserve her father's wealth.

Analyses
Lets start with the bad. As much as I think this film is worthy of praise there are however some lapses. The picture quality at certain points is doubtful, the script becomes repetitives and inadequate at many areas and there are unneccessary xters in the film. I don't know what happened but the quality of the first shot introducing the king and queen was not one of the best shots in the film. The picture quality was blurred and greyish. This is dangerous cos its at the beginning of the film and could kill the audiences' mood. The many scenes devoted to the desperation the character Tonto Dikeh plays in relation to the pressure from her family was redundant. Emeka's characters mothers' insistence for him to get married too did not require so many scenes. Emeka's brother and brother-in-law were uneccessary characters in this film from my perspective. I thought the lead character Emeka Ike played, apart from speaking french and a bit of some Cameroonian dialect did not wave the Cameroonian heritage flag well enough especially as far as costumes were concerned. Last but not the least I don't like the fact that the coranation takes place when credits are rolling. This was the 'denouement' of the film why put it so unimportantly besides the film end credits? Are the names in the end credits not noteworthy?

The good part lies in the fact that there can be no perfect movie and Director Neba Lawrence and his producer are taking bold steps which we should salute. The vision for this film was simple and the team did their best to pull it off. The script development, its climax and finale is a good attempt in screenplay writing. The locations and props well done.

Characters & Actors
I found Emeka Ike's attempt to speak french and a Cameroonian mother tongue very amusing yet thrilling.I commend the Nigerian actors whose professionalism could be felt as we watched the movie; they blended with the Cameroonian actors. Most of all I salute the one-part movie initiative which is a welcoming breath of fresh air. Some of the Cameroonian actors stood their grounds too. Solange(whose last name I have forgotten (check her out in the film poster) was believable in her pain at her fathers loss(though the nose discharge episode was very disgusting). Yimbu Emma seemed a little taken aback by Tonto from my perspective; I know what he is capable of doing as an actor and I didn't get 100% of that in this movie. The guy who played the greedy nephew was worth watching.As for Emeka Ike's charcaters mother I think she over-acts a little too much. Her flamy reactions in some scenes were unneccessary.

Conclusion
A lot of polishing still has to be done but a step a day will do the trick for this budding Cameroonian video film industry. So my last words are ...go grab your copy now!

The Boys Are Back In Town

I was about writing a post on our muscle-bound heroes entitled 'Where are they now?' when the EXPENDABLES showed up and shut me up. The new movie is about a group of mercenaries attempting to overthrow a South American dictator. Well... it was actually a confused dictator who was being manipulated by a...just watch the movie. If you have, I must say I was amongst the many who didn't give a hoot about the quality of the film. I was just impressed by the return of our power-horses: Stallone (aka Sly), Lundgren and even a glimpse of our ex-californian governor Shwarzy. Too bad Van Damme missed the package. It felt good and exhilarating to see these muscle packed men save the day once more...all dressed in black. Yum! The coolest thing ever: men in black with a dose of machismo

The storyline wasn't much. Actually it was very predictable, but that's not why we bought the tickets, right? We wanted to see how these giants of the action world could fare next to the present generation. I must say they did what they do best:entertain!

The blend of the new and the old was great fun to watch. I'm a fan of Jet Li and i loved the way he let himself be ridiculed in the movie. Jet is always acting tough and infallible. It was refreshing to see he wasn't always in control and couldn't beat everyone, much more a big gun like Dolph.
Jason Statham....Jason Jason Jason. The upcoming bad boy action hunk of the industry. He's so gorgeous, cool and in control. This shows that even Jet is phasing out. My only fear is for him not to become catalogued to particular roles in movies. I would love to see him in a romantic comedy. Anyways back to our story. In the movie, Jason is Sly's right hand man. He's good with knives and sucks at keeping a relationship. But i loved the way he beat up the guy who messed up his girlfriend.

Back to our foursome and some amazing physical build-up for men way beyond their 50's. In the early days of their careers way back in the 80's, Stallone in my books had always been the hottest of the foursome [Lundgren, Shwarzy and Van Damme]. I'm not denying the handsome nature of the other men. Especially van Damme in his early days.

But take a look at John Rambo for crying out loud. Baby soft brown eyes, quiet enigma and all that luscious hair. He was a walking magnet.

I'll most definitely be in the waiting for the next Expendables. I don't care if the story is crap. I'm simply hoping to be entertained again. The Expendables hit the box office at No. 1 upon its release. Rumours of a sequel is spreading far and wide. So i guess the boys are really back in town.

I found this interview very good and honest. Check it out people! Its Desmond Elliot. http://nollywoodgossip.lurrenzinc.com/news.php?extend.690.7

Too Much Talk!

Undeniably when one looks at where Nigerian and even Ghaniain filmmakers are at with their work, there is undoubtedly a wealth of progress and strife for perfection. What about Cameroon? Is there any hope that we shall surface from the dpeths of procastination and humble ourselves to learn the art of filmmaking enough to incoporate our own values? Truth be told, Cameroonians talk more than they do. They are always waiting for the big break, the perfect equipment, the million dollar script and so on. Finally not much is done in terms of actually making films. The few films which finally get made have no marketing power or skillful marketers to market the products. I was shocked to discover that in Cameroon there were about 450 video films made and released yet with no real marketing startgies they remained underground. Where are we heading, it is said a journey of a thousand miles starts with a step...but lets not remain on that step lets take a few more cos we can.