Nigerian Music Videos

I had a discussion with a friend the other day... we talked about Nigerian entertainment and I complained about a couple of obvious issues one can see when comparing Nigerian entertainment content to foreign media content. I wondered if there was any creativity left in the entertainment industry and told my friend I hadn't seen any. he replied "mehn, you've been here too long!"

He made me sit and put a series of Nigerian music videos to watch, here are the two I liked best

Be Your Man- Dipo

Bottom Belle- Omawunmi ft Flavour

I'll have to admit there is a lot of creativity in some Nigerian music videos and the quality has greatly improved. The thing is, why cant this be applied to Nigerian movies?

In my opinion, Nigerian movies are really difficult to watch! the repeated story lines and themes can give one a headache! Then to top it all up the video quality is quite poor.

American Movies made up to 60 years ago still have better quality than Nigerian movies, even better story lines.why cant we improve?

12 angry men- Simple setting, good plot and good acting! year 1957

                                                             Beyonce and Rihanna- ????

To be fair, film culture abroad is quite different from film culture in Nigeria: Although both make use of celebrities to attract the audience, shooting styles and themes are quite different. For example, American themes are mainly focused on contemporary American  life,bizarre ghostly events, love, exaggerated comedy and hyper reality  while Nigerian movie themes are mostly on religion, rags to riches or the reverse, family feuds and so on.

 Our movies mostly show the reality of Nigeria because most stories probably happen in real life. Most of which are quite depressing .

Even if American movies show horror, thrillers and other hair raising or bucket-filling movies, one could easily be re-assured that they dont happen in real life unless indicated that such was based on a true story (in which quite a few are). while one could say that Nigerian movies portray the realities of life and the challenges people face.

Nigerian movies do not have to be a carbon copy or very similar to Hollywood movies (In fact it shows lack of creativity and culture when Nigerian movies dub the same script an American movie has used)  but we could try to be a bit more creative and improve on the quality of our videos! 

movies like The Figurine and Jenifa (although part 3 had too much propaganda) should be commended for an improvement in the creativity and quality of Nollywood movies.... Hopefully in a few years from now one would rush to the cinema, not to watch an action packed American movie but a good Nigerian movie!

The Good, The Bad and Special Effects.

Have you ever cried watching a movie? glassy eyes count!

Sometimes I feel like going on  cinema strike. This is usually when I decide not to watch any movie at the cinema but wait for it to come out on DVD or DSTv. Gone are the days when one was all too eager to watch the next movie showing.

I’m tempted to say that most movies nowadays are rubbish! Its either a bad sequel to a good movie  or a remake where the directors try to insult our intelligence by adding special effects to a movie that lacks meaning.

I think in order for a movie to be called a good one, all or some of certain factors should be present:

Dialogue: 

Intelligent conversations spark up movies! Witty statements and funny remarks always leave a lasting impression on the audience and many modern movies lack this.

Take a movie like Casablanca, in its black and white form, it is still one of the best movies of all time! The dialogue is both engaging and funny!

Citizen Kane is another good black and white film. At first I did not understand why this movie is number 1 in the AFI top 100 films of all time, but when I watched the last scene, I kind of understood. The movie might seem boring but watching it with full attention would make one understand and even connect with certain themes, the effects of living the American Dream is one of them.

I'll have to say The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is one of my all time favorites!

How can I forget! the all too popular *drum roll*

Strong Story Line:

The plot of a good movie has to have the ability to captivate its audience. Suspense works most of the time and is usually best in horror movies! The best horror movie I’ve seen in the last 5 years or so is Insidious! Apart from the quite original and very creative hair raising script, the suspense is really good!

No country for Old men is another movie that I quite liked. Not a very nice ending but I didn’t expect that either.

Good Acting:

If acting in a movie is poor then that movie is doomed to fail!

In order to get your audience attention, they have to be immersed in the world of a movie and this can only be done if it appears real! There are many black and white films that could compete with modern ones today based solely on acting!

To be honest I didn’t really like The Artist the first time I watched it. Not because it was black and white with no sound (in fact I found that really impressive in this day and age) but I did not really like the story line (many would even disagree with me on this one). However, I would definitely recommend this movie for good acting! Very good acting! For a movie to be able to convey emotions and engage an audience without speech is truly a masterpiece!

Special Effects:

This is used by many movies to distract us! It works sometimes (lol).

Good special effects brings out the best in certain movies especially if it has to do with a lot of action, fantasy or science fiction. In my opinion, movies like Avatar are only making money because of the special effects. That’s something anyway,  I’m sure it’s not easy to generate such graphics for an entire movie.

Some movies are called classics today because of the connection they establish with the audience. I just watched E.T (The Extra Terrestrial), a 1982 film and I was greatly moved by it. One might not understand how a movie based on the friendship between a boy and an alien could sell so much and even be considered as one of the best movies of all time... till one watches it!

 Movies like MaryPoppins, Sound of Music etc are classics because of the feelings you get from them.  It is usually advised that such movies are to be seen as a family and before one turns Fourteen. In fact some say if one hasn’t seen certain classics, one probably did not have a good childhood. This is usually because such movies are part of one’s social development process. They also help establish positive relationships when watched together and sometimes help build  lasting memories. For example. you  could find you and your family members singing certain songs from classics  on a road trip, certain actions  imitated as children or certain scenes that cause one to remember a part of growing up. Classics have a connection one way or the other.

In my opinion, most of the best movies ever made were released in the 50s-80s! and that’s why most of the AFI top 100 are classics and old movies. That is not to say that we are a doomed generation producing horrid movies but that movie contents  were at the peak of their quality at that time. Now technology does most of the job which can be sad at times.

Looking on the bright side, there are still some really good movies that have been released in the late 20^th century For example, my all -time favourite The Lord of the Rings Trilogy! In my opinion , it happens to have all the factors stated above and of course made it to the AFI List!!!

The Avengers is another really cool movie! The director really pulled it off and I think the writer is a genius to have been able to keep  the audience interested in the story line and interested in reading about such characters till date!

I might return with another movie themed post (being a movie buff and all ;-) ) but  because  my fingers are tired of dancing on the keyboard, I shall stop here with a couple of movies I suggest  you see!

• 1.       The Lord of the Rings Trilogy! (of course! Eagerly waiting for the Hobbit showing in December!)
• 2.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (if you haven’t seen it definitely fix a date!)
• 3.       Citizen Kane (find out why its No 1)
• The God Father Trilogy (Epic!)
• 4.       The Avengers!!
• 5.       Insidious
• 6.       Casablanca
• 7.       My Fair Lady
• 8.       Inside Man
• 9.       Inception
• 10.   The King’s Speech

You could also see why the movies in the AFI top 100 are there….

Watch and See!!!

For Coloured Girls: Extreme Feminism?

I think I can comfortably say this has been the worst movie I have watched in my life, even worse than the horrible movie Haemoglobin.

I understand the theme is to show the raw emotions of women and how they cope with struggles and traumatic events that occur in their lifetime, I also appreciate the cast ( I tip my hat to Thandie Newton, and I think she had the best performance) however, there were certain things I could not but disagree with.

Are men the enemy? I believe that there are men out there who have issues and women are usually the ones who suffer but can we get statistics please? Is it every man that beats his wife, rapes or cheats? I found some of the portrayals very unrealistic. It’s ironic that the director of this movie is male himself. In fact one could come out of the cinema thinking men are evil and can never change and that’s how most of the male characters were portrayed. How about the man who stood by his wife even when he found out the reason she couldn’t have children? His character was much downplayed! Are we saying such men don’t exist? And if this is the case should society just sit and fold its arms?

Another thing I could not agree with is the portrayal of religious people having double standards and this seems to be a trend in modern movies today.  The practice of religion is now portrayed as an avenue for hypocrites to masks themselves under the false guise of virtue, fervent Christians are all too often presented as lunatics and puritans, I strongly disagree. Not every person striving to be Christian is pharisaic. The fact that one is not perfect and strives for this is one of the beautiful aspects of being human, that’s what keeps man going, being motivated to reach ones ideal and if a few people get caught up in a glass house with a judging look and raised pointed nose, it’s their problem however those people do not make up the population of true Christians.

Even if one could identify with the hard core truth about modern black society, the movie portrays the vices of these men as incurable. The rapist was allowed to get away with his vice by being killed, he was stabbed but died a rapist, the man who murdered his own children was locked in prison given the excuse of being a criminal rather than someone who was probably portrayed as one who had  some mental illness. In reality, a man who kills his own children out of anger will not be sent to jail but a psychiatric home, especially one who experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. He would be placed in a mental hospital and receive therapy, not immediate jail term.

It’s very sad that abortion is seen as a very easy and convenient thing to do. I do not believe that it is an easy decision to make and the option of life is not even considered. I strongly think that one should always be able to face the consequences of ones actions; one always wants to have ones cake and eat it. Is being pregnant punishment? Is sexual irresponsibility to be celebrated?

The vulgarity of the poetry put me off! I do not believe sex is all about superficial pleasure; it is sacred and should be treated as such. It was portrayed as a crime and something used by men to exploit women. Although in some cases it is but how about the good sides? How about a wonderful and most enjoyable union between two people with equal love for each other? (This is usually best revered by a husband and wife on a matrimonial bed).

It is understandable that one’s feelings and experiences are usually expressed through writing. For instance Tyler Perry is said to have had an abusive father and so mostly spent time with his mother and women. Although he did not write the original script, it makes a lot of sense for him to have portrayed men in that manner and adopt a negative feminine view of things. I think he could have done better with the story line; the movie leaves no moral lesson or hope for anyone struggling in such a situation. I understand it’s a movie FOR COLOURED GIRLS but are we saying that all men are evil? And that they cannot change? Are we saying that women are always the victims?

I don’t think women are weaklings and don’t know how to handle situations in their lives. Not every black woman is oppressed by a man and not every religious woman is a puritan with double standards and I think this is what the movie tried to portray, as each character’s experience is supposed to mirror an aspect of a black woman’s life. This movie makes women look like they are always suffering and have no clue of what to make of life, we are stronger than we know and with God and good guidance we can definitely cope with the obstacles life throws at us.