...sums up the current two 10/10 reviews.
This is African amateur writer, director and editor Akinyemi Sebastian Akinropo's first ever dabble in filmmaking, and it really does show.
The "based on a true story" is a very good and interesting story that needed to be told, but the execution of the storytelling was awful. It's started fairly decent, but Akinropo's editing was horrible with scenes dropping in out of nowhere and cutting out too soon. I call it "blender editing".
The pacing was fairly decent for the length of the screenplay, but the 100 min runtime was too long for the story being told. There were tons of plot and technical issues and many irregularities with the fluidity of the screenplay. This could have easily, and should have been, trimmed down to 80-85 mins tops.
The directing wasn't that bad for a first-timer, although some scenes were really badly directed and filmed that seemed 1980's dad-on-the-camcorder quality. The acting was actually not bad at all - for amateur actors that also had no direction from Akinropo. The sound was bad, probably from the lack of boom mics. The score and cinematography were adequate and the set location and landscape was great.
Filmmakers have to start somewhere, right, but I wish Akinropo had at least ran his script by a seasoned writer for some edits, and/or and experienced editor. That could've made this film much better. You can basically fast-fwd some scenes and not miss a thing. The true story needed to be told, and I'm glad it was, but wish it was told better.
This is African amateur writer, director and editor Akinyemi Sebastian Akinropo's first ever dabble in filmmaking, and it really does show.
The "based on a true story" is a very good and interesting story that needed to be told, but the execution of the storytelling was awful. It's started fairly decent, but Akinropo's editing was horrible with scenes dropping in out of nowhere and cutting out too soon. I call it "blender editing".
The pacing was fairly decent for the length of the screenplay, but the 100 min runtime was too long for the story being told. There were tons of plot and technical issues and many irregularities with the fluidity of the screenplay. This could have easily, and should have been, trimmed down to 80-85 mins tops.
The directing wasn't that bad for a first-timer, although some scenes were really badly directed and filmed that seemed 1980's dad-on-the-camcorder quality. The acting was actually not bad at all - for amateur actors that also had no direction from Akinropo. The sound was bad, probably from the lack of boom mics. The score and cinematography were adequate and the set location and landscape was great.
Filmmakers have to start somewhere, right, but I wish Akinropo had at least ran his script by a seasoned writer for some edits, and/or and experienced editor. That could've made this film much better. You can basically fast-fwd some scenes and not miss a thing. The true story needed to be told, and I'm glad it was, but wish it was told better.
