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Reviews
Cloud Atlas (2012)
A triumph!
Make no mistake: This film flopped due to an ill-organised distribution and marketing strategy and not because of its quality. Cloud Atlas counts as one of the very few films which will surprise you for its originality and freshness. The many quirks and twists which brought a good amount of criticism, only add depth and character to the film in my view. The virtues here are many: great cast and performances with a Hugh grant, Tom Hanks and Jim Broadbent at their best. Exquisite locations and special effects. Brilliant script and cinematography. A quirky and unexpected editing which is probably the most surprising and innovative features in the film. An absolutely brilliant score which holds the film together and adds a sense of sensualness and meaning beyond the plot itself. In short, its such a pity and a loss for cinema that such a gem went unnoticed!
Last Flight to Abuja (2012)
A film which captured a nation's hope for better cinema
Its been almost a year since this film came out and an unbiased review is certainly easier to attempt now than ever before. Whoever watches this now or in the future have to understand that the film premiered a mere week after the Dana Air disaster which saw a Douglas MD-83 plunge into Lagos killing 150. Naturally the film was bound to face severe scrutiny in its homeland. A lot of those "vibe"s have settled and the film remains a landmark and one of a kind on its own right.
As of 2013, Nigeria is mostly producing films which are deeply rooted in a homemade video culture which is hard to grasp by the westerner. Although I personally believe this country, under the right political vision, can be made into a gold mine for film, it is more than realistic to say that all that we have, for now, is a very productive although sub-par industry which most of the times calls films, what are in fact just video productions.
In this climate, Last Flight to Abuja stands out for its quality, film-like screen presence and ambitious non-linear narrative as well as brilliant cinematography. It is also fair to say that Omotola, Kae-Kazim and Monjaro in particular, pull out some larger-than-life performances. I might as well add that these are actors who in all fairness, belong to a better industry, and its only a shame we don't get to see them at all in bigger productions.
Last Flight also boasts great camera work which truly sets it on a league of its own. I believe the producers truly took quality to the forefront by shipping two Arri Alexa from Los Angeles for the shoot. The script which sits at the core of the film, was considered for a BAFTA nomination, and although it failed to realise the part in the end, it nevertheless stands as tribute to the quality which was put into this production and how this was appreciated beyond Nigeria.
The film was shot in a mere 14 days which is next to nothing for a story of this scale. This certainly stops the film from building into a true epic size, which perhaps would have been needed taking into account the subject matter. Still to this day, its casualty-free ending (only affected by the loss of the film's one villain) , is going to leave more than one unsatisfied. Although with foresight, there's not knowing if a bloodier end would have ever seen the film out. Considering how close the release was to the Dana Air disaster, that would have certainly been too much an impact for anyone to watch.
My last word is for director Obi Emelonye, who grabbed, with this film, a phenomenal success, beating The Dark Knight Rises and other blockbusters, in most theatres in Nigeria and Ghana. It is difficult to put a mark on Obi's cinematic impact in his country and beyond. We will have to wait another few years for that and see how Nigeria's film industry grows from this experience. Let me underline here that Obi's true legacy is not only that of his film's artistic value but also that of having restored confidence of Nigerian audiences in their own films.
One can only wish that other Nigerian filmmakers will build on this same ground for a much brighter Nigerian film future.
Hereafter (2010)
oh dear....... could have been better!
I can't really put my finger on this one... it feels like a sort of "could have been great" experiment. One feels pretty much like the protagonist, experiencing flashes of images, as portions of the film resonate pleasantly after a late night watch. There is greatness here and there... but there's also lack of precision in the treatment of characters, side stories which are not quite fully developed and distract from the main narrative, and an unusual unfinished music cue (I say unfinished as its been clearly left with its MIDI instrumentation on as normally MIDI tracks are overdubbed live before dubbing) as Mark enters the Social Services building.
So the film revolves mainly around a psychic protagonist with two ancillary stories revolving around the one.
Story two, which revolves around the twins, is masterfully told and lets you not off the hook. It is worth watching the film just for this one alone! In contrast George Lonegam's arch is not nearly as neat particularly when it comes to elaborate on the character's romantic side. The film clearly depicts Lonegam as a man running from his past and from his gift, but no hint is given as to his need to find love. We do understand that Lonegam feels lonely but one can't hope but to feel strangely surprised by such a sweet romantic finale where the accent is so heavily put on the protagonist's irresistible attraction for the good lady. The good lady is of course, Marie Lelay,a french journalist, whose story frankly (please feel free to convince me of the opposite) feels half as interesting and for the most part outright boring and that includes the tsunami intro, gallantly over-sized and overblown for the noir aspirations of the film.
One would wish that a new edit was made revolving around Lonegam and Mark the twin, the two just so greatly complement each other, with Marie coming in instead of Melanie, as the right woman with the right connection with the protagonist. She has just enough to fill his loneliness whilst also been able to facilitate a second connection with Mark. Or even better, we could have Mark and Marie meet each other earlier on, perhaps Marie could come in as Mark's foster mother. Mark could go through the some lack of affection problem which he has with his foster parents in the film, but in this case Mark would come in to redeem Mark's suffering (as in the film) while bringing balance to his relation with foster mom Marie who he realises he loves.
All this to tell you that, had I been the exec, I would have had the finale re-written and the intro down- sized or zapped off all-together.
The film is rather nice, a bit rough around the edges, but definitely worth seeing!
Have fun!