I wonder just how many lies many parents have told their children about their extended families which have culminated into very unnecessarily toxic relationships, hätred and rivalry passed down from generation to generations.
PLOT
In this movie, A night in 2005, what started out as a beautiful night with a relatively exciting experience on prom night on the 9th of June, 2005 soon turns into a dreadful moment in the afterparty for seventeen-year old Ifelayo “Ife” which would later cast a dark shadow over her for the next 15years until she comes face to face with her fears-her trauma.
MY THOUGHTS
PTSD is as real as real can be and these issues cannot be overemphasised nor overlooked as they happen in diverse of ways. The psychological impact of these mental health problems due to traumatic experiences on people’s day to day activities vary greatly.
This is one movie which storyline, highlighting real socio-political, family and personal life issues alongside its plot were beautifully executed with incredible depth to the characters from actors who gave quite a remarkable performance in the interpretation of their roles.
Worthy of mention firstly is Uzoamaka Aniunoh who played Kelechi(Opeyemi’s wife). Her diction...goodness! The poise and carriage, so demure. Her delivery in this movie is stellar!
Okay....that's enough digression.
Ini Dima-Okojie did great with her role as the lead character as she embodied every facet of it. You’d be drawn in to her world enough to empathise with her.
Efa Iwara as Opeyemi also took on that role with so much grace and courage. A character you’d love to hate such that you feel no pity for whatever befalls him in the end.
Nollywood veterans Bimbo Akintola and Ireti Doyle added the midas touch to this movie as they played Ife’s and Opeyemi’s mothers respectively.
Teniola Aladese as Ani as well as the lady who played Funmi at the farm did awesome too. I won’t be surprised if she gets a nomination for “Best Supporting Actress” now or in the future.
The colour grading, lighting, sound effects costume, makeup, camera angles, props…all did great to complement the brilliant storytelling to further boost and sustain the suspense and intrigue here. Bravo to the team for a job well done
The love of money is indeed the root of all evil. Ife’s mother was such a selfish and self centred mother who would rather throw her daughter under the bus than make sacrifices for her wellbeing. She would do anything even so much as tell ancestral lies just to get what she wants. Very manipulative and cunning. Sadly, there are mothers like her in real life
Be that as it may, there were flaws:
Firstly, I grew up hearing the opening background soundtrack from the boy band of the mid-2000s, StylPlus because one of my brother's loved them. I knew some of the lyrics to most of their songs from back in the day. So it was quite nostalgic for me hearing it. Nevertheless, the use of their song became a source of one of the loopholes in this film.
How, you may ask!?
From what we’re made to understand, a major part of this movie is set 15years after the ugly incident happened in 2005. This should sum up to mean we’ll be looking at 2020 as the year Ife finally faced her fears. Which is supposed to be the present year in the film, right?
However, in this same period, someone from an FM station played StylPlus’s “Olufunmi” of 2006 on a car stereo stating, “this is the hit track right now!” Just how??? Also, a dėath took place and at the tomb of the deceased, the inscription on the year of dėath reads “…2024!” So, is the current year 2020 or 2024? Are we looking at 15years later or are we looking at 19years later?
Ok please make it make sense. Did someone forget to do their maths? Or is my own maths not ‘mathing’? I need to know cause I can’t seem to get past it
Secondly, Paul (Ife’s fiance) mentioned “imagine Ayra Starr performing at our wedding!” This means that the writer truly was referring to 2024. Now, this is very inconsistent with ‘15years after 2005’ because the now singer didn’t gain mainstream attention and popularity until 2022. So, even if they were to stick to 2020, this was still inaccurate.
Thirdly, just how easy was it to abduct an aspiring Governor? We would expect that he would have his body guards and/or armed officers and it’s going to be a major showdown to get him. Or maybe some strings were pulled?
Lastly, the choice in the font colour at the beginning of the movie for the cast and crew roll-out didn’t do justice if you ask me.
Overall, there wasn’t a dull moment in this film in my view. No scene dragged unnecessarily. The story was well executed and lesson learnt which is to give listening ears to our kids no matter what and also to make every effort to find out claims about families before running with lies or falsehoods.
You should see the film. I recommend.
Thanks for gracing this post.
Greetings!
