{"id":604,"date":"2015-03-01T23:57:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T23:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adauzoije.com\/?page_id=604"},"modified":"2015-03-17T08:30:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T08:30:06","slug":"film-review-africa-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adauzoije.com\/?page_id=604","title":{"rendered":"Film Review Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

BLOOD TYPE<\/strong>\u00a0–<\/span> The Review<\/span><\/span>\"10410089_10155076572075481_8719310854879762559_n\"<\/h3>\n

Once<\/strong> again I attended another film premiere from West Africa on the 6th<\/sup> March 2015 at the Odeon IMAX cinema in Greenwich, London. It was for the film BLOOD TYPE<\/a><\/strong>, a movie directed and produced by Toyin Moore<\/a> (Nigerian) and by assistant Producer Gladys Ndimuntoh<\/a> (Cameroonian). I arrived just in time at 9pm to capture the beauty of the night with my favourite gadget (my camera, of course!). A big turnout of glamorous looking gents and ladies walked through the red carpet while posing for the cameras with delight.<\/p>\n

\"n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is Film Review Africa<\/strong> <\/span>and I am Ada Uzoije<\/strong><\/a>, your passionate film reviewer bringing the best of Africa films inside out to you. The Review, The Video and the Photographs for the BLOOD TYPE film premiere are all here on just one page. Leave your comments below to inspire me to write more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSC_7949\"<\/p>\n

\"DSC_7998\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Review<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"DSC_8137\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Toyin Moore\u2019s film Blood Type exposes the destructive mental health state of the main character, Queen, played by the director herself. Queen was raped by a family member when she was a child, a secret she kept to herself for many years. A few days after Queen was raped, we see a sudden change in her behaviour from a happy girl playing with her doll to a resentful sad girl upset with everyone, including her parents, who just couldn\u2019t grasp what was happening to their child.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_8100\"<\/p>\n

This movie is educative in terms of underlining the immediate and future effects of a paedophilic act on the victims. For Queen, the future effect was long-term depression, and she releases her bottled-up emotions by engaging in numerous sexual encounters with men she barely knows. This problem even stretched as far as Queen\u2019s inability to be faithful, resulting in her husband seeking divorce. Some of the plausible questions that arose from these early scenes were whether Queen\u2019s parents did enough to investigate the sudden change in their daughter\u2019s behaviour, along with the question of whether parents in general have the sort of relationship in which their children feel comfortable enough to tell them anything. Are more paedophiles going to be exposed and arrested if more parents are proactive in uncovering the abuse their children are suffering? This is true life on film; rapists, paedophiles and child abusers could be anyone in the family, and that is what this movie stresses.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_7971\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Undeniably, the storyline was enlightening, but the lack of continuity in editing from some of the transitional scenes created several moments of confusion for the viewers. A notable instance was the flashback scene of Queen cheating with her husband\u2019s friend to the \u2018now happening\u2019 next scene of Joe crying alone on the bridge. There was a lack of careful editing of the above scenes to indicate the end of a flashback from the past so the viewer could quickly make a connection between the events unfolding. Additionally, some scenes were too fast, resulting in rough continuity editing, such as in the rape scene and when Joe first met Queen at her office. What features often is the reliance on long shots and the bad choice of camera angles evident in the rape scene, such as when the couple were outside the hospital, during the marriage ceremony and on the night when Joe and his friend visited the women for sex. These made the film much less engaging. Moreover, the audio was so exasperating loud that the secondary sounds took prominence over the primary sounds, such as hearing the sound of a chair\u2019s legs being pulled away from the table when Joe and his friends wanted to sit down at the bar. Likewise, the visual colours were not sharp and enthralling, though the images do appear sharper on the YouTube video trailer than they did at the cinema screening at the premiere.<\/p>\n

\"nne\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the acting of the three main characters kept me entertained irrespective of the technical downsides. This was my first time watching an African film made in London and solely featuring actors and actress living in the UK. One upcoming actress that was notably entertaining was Nnenna Ani<\/a>, who played Helen. Nnenna Ani\u2019s acting was likeable and she provided much of the excitement in the film. She depicted a humorous character of Helen that creates laughable moments with her gospel preaching. She is a nuttier Christian that infuriates her co-workers including Queen with her daily preaching and she does it well, and obviously it made me laugh out loud. Helen was a true friend to Queen and she was adamant to stop her friend from suffering further destruction from her way of life. When Queen made the decisive confession \u201cI don\u2019t like marriage and marriage don\u2019t like me\u201d, Helen referred her and Joe to the marriage minister to save their marriage.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_8014\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Conversely, Toyin Moore effectively played a convincing role of a sex-crazed plus size thirty-something woman, but was not so convincing when playing the role of an old woman retelling her story through flashbacks. Additionally, John Remedy<\/a>\u2019s appearance worked well in accord with the role of Joe, the lead actor. He was able to depict a realistic soft-hearted husband dominated by his wife, Helen. What John does best is convey the right emotions at the right time; his facial expressions and accent drew viewers in enough that they could feel the romantic aspect of this film.<\/p>\n

The Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n