Written by Mfon-Abasi Michael Inyang, directed by Uzo Osimkpa, produced by Susan Ogutuga and Executively produced by Tomi Adeoye & Omoni Oboli, this movie titled “While This Heart Beats” is now showing on the latter’s YouTube channel with same name.

Synopsis: (MAY include spoilers) 

Aaron Coker (Michael Dappa) is the only son of the Coker’s. He has a condition from childhood which has now worsened and in need of an urgent medical intervention.

Somehow his world collides with Ifunanya’s (Omowunmi Dada) and the rest of the film sees some drama and intrigue.

Would you get your popcorn and/or favourite drink to munch and sip along while events unfold in this drama with a runtime of 1hour 56minutes ? Well, you be the judge of that!

My Take:
ONE QUESTION: WHO is the Casting Director for this movie? 

No…no…no! Please make it make sense that Omowunmi Dada who is in her mid-30s would play a daughter role to Toni Mezie who, if I’m not mistaken is probably in his late 30s to early 40s (or at most mid-40s)? Did someone get lost in the 15-year premise and forgot to do their maths? 

Although, Dappa & Omowunmi gave a brilliant interpretation to their roles individually, however, together, I didn’t really see much of an onscreen connection between them. Also, the movie which had a promising start, blurred out ever so slowly at snail-speed so much so that even at a playback of x1.5, it still dragged. 

There are many head scratchers and eye-roll moments but the one that takes the cake besides the mismatch of casts is the sequencing.

Rather than being a tool for supense, it is however confusing. How we went from a person who had 3months to live to one agile enough to attend a füneral (though on a wheel chair) still beats me!

Not once did we see him suffer a crisis enough to be drawn to his world of pains or misery. For what we later realised, is that how swift post-surgery recovery is for the condition the patient had hitherto suffered? 

 Doctors in the house, please, your expertise is needed here 

While camera quality and audio was good, the story which appears to be different managed to get itself entwined in a plot that didn’t do justice. Perhaps, if this wasn’t such a slow-burn, the outcome would have been better.

Okay now let’s talk about Aaron asking Ifunanya “who are you?” at the funeral plus all the village setting and Uncle forcing Neice to get married brouhaha, shall we? 

1. How did Aaron not know who the daughter of his driver for 15years is? Okay! I get it that privacy and confidentiality could sometimes make this happen but for how the movie played out, it doesn’t add up.

2. How did we go from “My uncle burnt my credentials” to someone paying huge sums to redeem same? 

 Did the credentials suddenly come back to life? This made for some inconsistencies in line delivery or scripting.

3. What transpired between Aaron & Ifunanya’s uncle for how he was able to retrieve those documents? Well, I guess our imaginations would have to do the rest.

This movie to a large extent was predictable in a not-so-fun way. From the poster and title, a viewer like myself already made out a story and without mincing words, it turned out 80% what was predicted. The remaining 20% being the pairing of father and daughter (which got me really upset) and the big reveal in the end (which though clever but was unrealistic).

There are more questions to ask but I’d rather not. This left me high and dry probably because my expectations were somewhat high. It’s educational but its portrayal betrays its essence. Call it entertaining, then you could be right. Yet, its pacing and duration snuffs that ingredient out if you ask me! Overall, this didn’t do it for me as the emotions were not built up enough. It didn’t give what it was meant to give. Again, this could very well be your best film yet!