Written, directed & produced by Dimbo Atiya, this movie titled “STILL FALLING” which was first released in February of 2021 is currently available for streaming on Chokin Things TV YouTube channel.

SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers) 

Bono Kuku (Sharon Ooja) is a typical Bosslady who has built a niche in Social Media Branding/Marketing. She bags a huge tech deal and is doing absolutely well for herself until her world collides with her terrifying past.

Faced yet again with her Ex Lagi (Daniel Etim-Effiong) now a pilot seven years after he left her broken, Bono has to choose between forgiveness and revenge.

To find out how scenes play out here, why not grab your popcorn 

 and or favourite drink, munch, sip along as you follow events in this faith-based drama with a runtime of 2hours 11minutes.

MY TAKE:
Straight up, maybe I need to check my heart at this point cos this movie didn’t make me shed a single tear…NO, not even a tiny weenie bit as opposed to a myriad of comments I had initially seen with some stating “I cried, I crode, I crewd…!” 

 Well, opinions differ though, so I give it to you guys, ndi criers dot com! 

The story is meant to be an emotional one but some ingredients were missed out in the direction or sequencing which then weakened the plot in my view.

The use of flashbacks; a graphic representation of the backstories here would have made more impact instead of the talks. I mean, come to think of it, they had a whole 2hours plus for a powerful storytelling but however misused it. Two instances of this were:

1. Lagi’s past with Bono. I wanted to see it for myself how Lagi treated Bono as that would have made it more compelling for me.

2. The cause of Lagi’s triggers. The movie struggled to express mental health issues springing from childhood traumas. Lagi mentioned he was rebelling against his father’s religion. HOW? It didn’t particularly add up. He stated Bono was caught in the crossfire…HOW? See, I would have preferred a vivid representation of all that.

Casting was nonetheless superb as well as the acting. Loved seeing the legendary Dr. Panam Percy Paul (Lagi’s father) with his iconic voice…quite the nostalgia! Totally enjoyed the choir rendition. For a moment there, I almost forgot I was watching a movie. 

 Not sure why that scene lasted that long to be honest and I can’t quite grasp the importance of that particular scene to the story. It felt detached from the plot if you ask me.

Making me beam with smiles was Veteran actress ma’am Liz Benson Ameye (Bono’s mum). Super duper love that woman. The costumier needs to apologise to her for the awkward wig she wore at some point though 

For a faith-based movie and how they portrayed Lagi to have changed, it didn’t make much sense how he handled the situation with Bono especially when she showed up unannounced during a choir rehearsal dressed like that with the choir members blushing on the side. Who does that? 

 “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!” so says the Holy Scriptures but we didn’t see Lagi put up much resistance before falling ‘yakata’ 

Speaking of rehearsals, was Lagi a choir conductor, choir master or youth pastor? 

 Cos one minute he’s conducting, next, he’s coordinating and next, we’re hearing of an ordination…like, which one should we pick?

Character development was equally flawed to some extent as we didn’t exactly see how Lagi was before he ran into Bono again. We didn’t get to see whether he was missing her or looking for her all along. We also never got told about his mother. Or did I miss it? 

Highlighting the need for forgiveness, finding closure and healing on the part of Bono, can we say it was Karma for how Lagi ended? 

One lesson which I however took from here is to be careful who we share our plans with. Bono got carried away and shared a secret to a person she had just met which nearly destroyed her.

Conclusively, this movie is entertaining as the actors did their thing but I wasn’t drawn into the world of either of the lead characters enough to empathise with any of them. Quoting scriptures in a movie isn’t what makes a movie faith-based but the totality of the package in the movie. I didn’t feel the “faithness” in this movie. But I quite appreciate the pen ultimate scenes with Bono and her mum. I would have loved to rate this higher but it is what it is.