Story/screenplay written by Karyn Udeh, directed by Akay Mason, produced by both Uchenna Mbunabo & Uche Montana and Executively produced by Uche Montana herself (also starring as Tonye), this film with a runtime of 2hours 5minutes is now showing on the latter’s YouTube channel with same name.

SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers)

When Tamunotonye ‘Tonye’ Williams (Uche Montana) who hitherto vehemently resented God and all things religious is diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (Granular Cells Tumour) and is given three (3) to six (6) months to live, she would be seen literally eating her words. But is this an automatic meal ticket to healing?

MY TAKE:

Seeing the poster of this movie and its title as well as the cast lineup, I already made up a story in my head and I’m here to say I was about 95% correct. To be honest, it was initially a hard pass for me but seeing some comments concerning this stating that there was a twist and how the poster is miles away from the story, I thought to give it a try and prove myself wrong. Boy was I right all along! Well, everyone has a right to their opinion as we see things differently. Different strokes for different folks. So, here’s mine:

Story/plot:

The story is absolutely not new (which isn’t a bad thing). But as the days go by, it seems to me more and more that some Nollywood producers or writers appear to have a story-bank where they pick stories from. How else do you explain the supposed coincidence that a particular trend prevails?

Currently, it’s faith-based films with particular reference to GRACE. Either a character is named Grace or there’s GRACE on the title. They probably pick these stories unbeknownst to themselves (colleagues in the industry), tweak it a bit and boom a movie is out with one resembling the other. And viewers are left having Deja Vu moments.

I understand that there are seasonal storytellings like Christmas, Valentine, Easter, Summer Holidays, etc! But these, naaaah! It feels pretty much like a copycat type of thing going on! See, there are lots and lots of stories out there to rigmarole on a single type every now and then. The most rampant, it’s either love stories or faith based stories or a mix of both!

Can these producers just stick to a genre or at least genres they’re good at? Leave faith-based films for the likes of Mount Zion Film Ministries and the likes and focus on your secular storytelling instead of muddling things up which sometimes appear like a mockery to Christian storytelling. Yes! Watching this film, I was pissed!

The story was supposed to be educational (which it was by a tiny fraction) and faith based but the plot or approach was a distraction. True, there’s a message passed in the end to the effect that people sometimes turn to God when they need something from him and turn their backs when they get it. But again, the style used here was neither compelling, effective nor practicable.

Direction/Execution:

The sequencing is confusing. I had to rewatch the end, take it few minutes back to understand what was going on. I initially thought the entire second act was a dream which would have made more sense, though not any less annoying.

Casting/Performance:

The casting was good. Acting was great but overall execution was subpar and left me confused that I had to rewatch several scenes. Deyemi Okanlawon (as Folarin) was made too passive in the film. It felt like a waste of his craftsmanship. Perhaps an upcoming actor should have been given that role being that his script was overly limited. He delivered nonetheless. Stella Chima who played Nina (Tonye’s friend) is beautiful and acted so well. I had to look her up. Hope to see more of her. And of course, Uche Montana delivered crisp as always.

Makeup/Costume:

While some of the hairs used here are super beautiful especially the fringe one used by UM towards the end and the deep-wavy one used by SC, the makeup on UM at the start of the film however looked like one from 2005. It felt like some throwback or flashback. That particular look/makeup and wig she wore was a distraction and it kept popping up every now and then throughout the film. Scenes 47:00 to 48:00, makeup was inconsistent.

Sound/Audio/Editing:

Background sound interfered greatly with the audio at different times. The font style at the opening credit was not aesthetically appealing.

Observation/Question:

1. “Shall we continue in sin that GRACE may abound..?” I guess the writer took inspiration from this quotation in scriptures but overall packaging of the story wasn’t captivating or intriguing.

2. Was Folarin jobless? He appeared to have been readily available at every nook and cranny yet his character was passive. He appeared powerless in the story and I wonder why. Well, the movie centred on Tonye someone would argue but I needed a bit of action or more lines or effective screen time from him. I mean it’s Deyemi we’re talking about here!

3. I cringed at the part Tonye was talking rudely to her mum in the presence of Folarin when they just got engaged. That does not happen anywhere; at least not in that manner.

4. For a country as religious as Nigeria, where do people pour water on preachers or yell at them in the bus or embarrass them outrightly like it was portrayed in this film? Overly dramatised, it was too exaggerated for comfort! Yes, Christians are persecuted often but not in the way portrayed here.

5. The fainting/collapsing scene was not executed properly too. Why did it take so long – from dizziness, staggering to actual fainting? Make it make sense that a person who’s feeling dizzy kept walking to and fro whilst carrying out a presentation! Don’t mean to sound insensitive but I already saw in the trailer that Tonye fainted. While watching I saw myself yelling at my screen in pidgin “abeg if you wan faint, faint jor!”

6. The ending was underwhelming and even more confusing. It’s one of them movies a viewer sees themselves asking “Is that it?” The movie came to an abrupt end.

7. Duration was excessive and the pacing was too slow. The entire plot could easily have fit into at most 1hour 30minutes. Watched on a 1.25x speed which still felt slow.

8. Not negating the efficacy of prayers or the potency in faith, but is this movie indirectly preaching that people should refuse treatment on the basis of faith? I mean even the slogan of doctors states “WE TREAT BUT GOD HEALS!” Tonye outrightly rejected her friend’s suggestion of a renowned surgeon or so.

9. It’s also possible there may have been a misdiagnosis as Tonye casually mentioned. Did they eventually initially go to another clinic for a second opinion just as Folarin suggested? I’d like to know! Perhaps, I missed it.

10. Now, there was a contradiction. At the opening credit, we’re told this movie is based on a true life story as it happened to someone in Lagos (I have screenshots of these)! The end credit then came with a disclaimer stating otherwise. So, which should we take, please? Is it a true story or not?

Conclusion:

Didn’t expect much from the film but the little hopes I had were still dashed. The dialogues were not very compelling nor engaging. We’ve seen a million and one films now along this storyline. Just state a disease/condition (boom oh it’s educational)…quote a few lines from the Bible (oh it’s faith-based)…a few sad scenes (oh it’s emotional and some saying “oh I cried, I crode, I crewd”)…NEXT!!!

Verdict: 3/10

Have you seen this? What did you think?