You know what, I am sick and tired of being called names because I do not conform to certain ideas. To those who ask if I have written a script before, I have. Many times, that is my concentration. I have also over 10 short films, entered into canne, tribeca etc. I am on a scholarship from a writing competition I won. So please, I take serious exception to the daily crap I take when I state my opinion. Granted, I use words without care but, that is my style. I hope to become a critique after school, I tread their ways. Read critiques reviews off yahoo movies, most painful words they use. I am sick of some of you people who cannot grow balls; after all, I don’t address you do I? It was I, Joy, who received insults for praising this same perfect picture movie and Shirley. So if I go back to eat my words, does that not show my stand? That I sway where my opinions take me? I had high hopes for the movie, I was disappointed when I saw how poor the story development was. Production value; it was good. But for me, the story simply did not gel, it had no logic. From someone like Miss Manso, it is a failure!
Leila Djansi has 200% of my respect and admiration, she recently shot a movie, she has agreed to speak with me in an interview later this week and also give me the trailer to the movie to post here on nigeriafilms.com. I will praise the movie, but woe betides her if it is bad. All that hero worship will go out of the door and I will come after her like thunder. I detest feeling foolish. I AM NOT BIASED!!
below is a review from a very smart young woman. All her reviews are on point.
I finally watched this movie due to the hype; however to be quite honest the ONLY thing in the movie that made it deserve the hype is the love scene between the Jackie Appiah/Chris Attoh characters, period. The love scene was TIGHT! The ambiance, the music – KUDOS, TWO THUMBS UP, HIGH FIVE, CHAMPAGNE POP to the DP and director as well as the actors who let themselves go in the scene. Not much else recommends this movie but that one thing only. Please, before anyone wraps themselves around my elegant neck let me say, I did like the movie and I think Nollywood had better begin to watch it’s back well, well because Ghanawood or is it Gollywood is doing it’s best to re-define the game in their favor.
The Rest Of What I Liked
No bias here especially since I woudn’t turn down a date with him but John Dumelo was pitch perfect! He and the reserved character as a couple reminded me very very much of Blair Underwood and Sanaa Lathan in the movie “Something New.” I don’t know if that was a rip off of the movie but hey, it worked and explained why she would be attracted to the AC repair fella.
Loved the lady who played the wife to the boss that Dede was messing with, she was on POINT! She did her thing, great casting choice!
Dede adopting the child at the end was great to me because I think sometimes our women think if they don’t have the traditional family that they have failed and I think Shirley Frimpong has managed to say that NO, you are not a failure because you didn’t do it like everyone else in the world. She has managed to say that is okay to do the best under whatever hand God has dealt to you and I think those who adopt are capable of such INCREDIBLE love and have such big hearts because it isn’t easy to take on someone else’s child. TWO HIGH FIVES!!!
Jackie’s character’s frustration was palpable – loved the choice to spear the sausage with the fork and bit of the head, one point there Jacs.
My PERSONAL issues with PP1-3
Perfect Picture 1-3 did not tread a path any different from what Emem Isong did with Games Women Play, Games Men Play and Reloaded and to tell the truth even before the G_P franchise, there was a little movie called “Keeping Faith” and “Separate Lives” that were written in the same vein, i.e. dissecting the lives of three friends with different personalities, different situations and out look on life.
1. Angela81 made mentioned of this already but at the end of the movie I still was not clear on what was wrong with Chris Attoh’s…ahem…joy stick. Why was it not operational with the wife but with the wife’s friend? At first it seemed suggested that the wife was the one with the issues of sex, the screen writer couldn’t decided if she was prudish or just incapable of enjoy sex and Jackie Appiah’s portrayal was unfortunately not specific enough. In the bedroom scene, as soon as the man started kissing her, she had an issue with her ears, the blanket, his knees, then her knees…the fumbling and bumbling was a poor set up for the upcoming sexual issues to be explored in the story…a little too manufactured. Then she was rolling her eyes in a bored manner as though she would have preferred this to be someone else more exciting on top of her…she almost gave away his impotency because the eye roll suggested a sort of “here we go again wasting energy when your thing never rises to the occasion any,” which gives a way a lot to the audience but at the same time, she acted so uncomfortable with her body and positioning which suggests that she was prudish or inexperienced sexually…it was a tad confusing for me.
Why was she going to the doctor to see what was wrong with her when it was obviously written that the problem was with him? And then they swerve into suggesting that it’s because he waiting a year to have sex with her after the marriage as per her request, well, I have never heard that celibacy killed a man’s instrument before this was a first for me unless this was to suggest a psychological excuse…then the writer went on to suggest that it might be a medical issue but at the long run, it was never ever pinned down to ONE specific issue…One specific seemingly insurmountable issue that this young couple must overcome in their brief marriage in order to get down to the question…Is Love Enough?
And if she was a prude as it seems to be suggested by Dede who calls her a good two shoes, would she really, really ask her friend to tempt her man? Wouldn’t that be out of character?
What was the point of the masturbation scene? Was he trying to see if it works solo to ensure himself that there wasn’t a problem? I and the friend watching it thought he was gay and masturbating to men’s magazine or something because of the way the scene was executed.
2. Lighting was very much an issue for me because our lightening designers have yet to learn how to light (a) dark skinned people (b) multiple areas in a room differently.
The opening scene in the studio apt with Dede’s (Lydia F) character practically had her dressing in dark and in scene where she get on the bed with her face in the camera looking for something on the, it is pitch black!
Moving on to the scene in Aseye’s house for the double switch, all I could see were floating white, satin night gowns because both ladies are dark, the room was so poorly lit that all that suggest that there were people in that room was their voices and the white gown.
3. Sound – was poor and between the girls trying too hard to speak “refined” I lost some of the dialogue especially like the pool scene or scenes where they had to whisper…the pool scene, the bathroom scene especially between all three girls at the wedding luncheon sounded like it had to redubbed/relooped in the studio because the dialogue sounded disembodied.
4. The dialogue was a bit canned and the actors didn’t do much with regards to subtext and/or shade a new interpretative meaning to the words.
5. Costume – everyone wore much too much white…In the scene where J.A, finds Chris Attoh and Dede talking – she’s in white, he’s in white and old girl is in a white towl and the walls are white! In the introduction of the up tight, workaholic character, she’s in a white peignor set and moving on to the movie theater scene, Jackie in white, the switch up scene, white.
The costume person went with way too much unimaginative white.
6. The air conditioner repair man angle was cute (a rip off of Disappearing Act with Wesley Snipes as the handy man and Sanaa Lathan as the reserved, bougie homeowner/teacher who falls for him inspite of society’s view) but I didn’t like the actor’s portrayal of the role. He lacked the confidence of a man who made a fortune as a lawyer and is now simply pursuing what he loves instead of money. He played him like the house boy with fear of the madam in his eyes too much as opposed the adoration of a man who knows what he wants and will bid his time for it. Yes, his station would be looked upon as humble but humble doesn’t always mean mealy mouth and I think he played the character a little to weak for me to have bought at the end that he owned this fabulous house, car etc.
And please, why was he standing on a CHAIR to fix the AC? Production failure there, a ladder would have been more appropriate.
7. The air conditioner man being rich in the end to me was same ole, same ole. I predicted already that that was going to happen, the surprise would have been for him to truly be only a owner of ONE AC repair shop with a modest house and YES, the broke down pick up is the only car he has and she be okay with it. Now that would have been the different take whereby the African woman with looks, means and opportunity could actually settle for a man who works at a blue collar job. Her mother would really have a heart attack then because she would have been giving up the Dumelo character’s added wealth to be with an repair man but as it is written now, the mom would be just fine because she’s exchanging one wealth for another with a man who just happened to like getting grease under his nails…what’s so new about that? To me, the character did not find love under a different circumstance which was what was suggested by the writing the way the story was unfolding – it bailed out and I was very disappointed.
8. The ending was predictable. Production failure showed up here when she was shown typing her messages with the man she meant online, she was typing in a photoshop screen as oppose a webpage, my friend who is a graphic designer spotted it right away.
9. Emem Isong already did the Bollywood dancing characters at the end of a movie, having all three girls start dancing came out of nowhere and was unnecessary.
10. The mother character was unnecessary. I did not enjoy the actress who portrayed her because of her take on the character as an immature, pouty, dress to young for her age mama. I didn’t like it but it might explain why her daughter was a bit more conservative, reserved and a work horse – it works if that is the case but I’ve seen this particular actress display the same thing in other characters she has played in other films so I think it’s just her thing.
By Joy Della Ocloo for nigeriafilms.com
