[Guest Feature ] #CGMovieReview : A Week To My Wedding

Ridiculous storylines written from the male gaze are still alive and kicking in Nollywood, hooray! This film was infuriating from the beginning. It starts off okay, quite empowering for the female feminist actually. 

The protagonist is a young lady struggling to find a job but rejecting all suggestions that she should sleep with men in order to be employed. Of course, it seems her frustration comes from a place of shallow envy but we won’t dwell on that. 

After getting a job she also finds a guy to love her - because those are the only things a girl needs in life - and he’s her knight in shining armour, almost literally.

Spoiler alert: there are rape scenes in this film and I am compelled to tell you this because I am compelled to tell you how terribly the story line was handled. You only need to take a look at the comments on IROKOtv to see that very few people believed the film provided a realistic depiction of the situation and as the storyline develops the victim’s reaction borders on the ridiculous.

We must applaud Nollywood for attempting to broaden their horizons and include these incidents in their films but a topic as sensitive as rape or coerced sex in the workplace should not be handled like the lead up to a comedian’s punchline - shallow and fantastical. 

The acting was average. It doesn’t move the audience but it’s enough to get the story to progress. Yes, there was some wooden acting from Stella Udeze and IK Ogbonna is no Johnny Depp but the two lead characters (Belinda Effah and Uzor Arukwe) did alright, tears flowed as expected when expected. 

The timeline of the story just did not make sense and worse than that, if the focus is going to be a week before the wedding because that is the title of the film, that particular week should not begin in the last third of the film! There are formulas for screenwriters to follow I just wish they would. I was beginning to think that week would never come and that the film title was only clickbait. 

I shall not be fooled again! Is this film worth seeing, no. If you miss it you will never notice. It breaks no ground on the cinematography, the acting or the way in which it addresses a social issue. It is not recommended that anyone spends the 90 minutes it takes to watch this film, but if you are still interested it is available on IROKOtv. 

Written By : Charlene Bello