As Nollywood is evolving it is producing more films that are made for casual viewing rather than the family event that Nollywood audiences are used to.
At just 75 minutes long, One Moment in Time, is a short film by Nollywood standards and therefore it fits into the causal viewing category. It’s not clear what genre the film fits into so let’s just say it’s an artistic drama.
In One Moment in Time, we follow a short clip of the life of a married man, Temisan, (Mike Ezuronye) who is struggling to have a child with his wife, Odion (Kehinde Olorunyomi). Odion later finds out that he has had a child with another woman during the time that they were married.
On the day that Temisan discovers a big secret about his son, his life is changed forever and we follow him in the struggle after that day.
The film stars Mike Ezuruonye, Kehinde Olorunyomi, Gloria Mba and Bolanle Ninalowo and it is without a doubt that the entire film surrounds Mike; everyone else, including his leading lady (Olorunyomi), is but a supporting actor.
There is nothing particularly striking about Ezuruonye’s acting. As usual his character stammers and stutters at the beginning of every prose in just that unique way that fans of Ezuruonye would be used to. Kehinde Olorunyomi puts forward a strong performance of a grieving wife although there are moments of vacancy in her eyes when it becomes apparent that she is particularly focused on looking as if she’s not focused on the acting.
In these moments, especially in scenes shared with Mike, it is easy to see that the actress has fallen out of character and with that the emotion of the scene falls too. I am surprised that iROKO tv even bother to mention Bolanle, instead of Seun Akindele, on the cast list, his cameo was inconsequential to the storyline.
Akindele on the other hand, is a crucial sounding board off whom Temisan is able to make sense of his situation and plot a way forward.
I get the feeling that the writers also wanted Akindele to possess a sort of Morgan Freeman-esque quality offering words of divine wisdom meant to make us think. His performance was not terrible given that the boundaries of his personality exploration were quite restricted.
All's not lost on the acting, however. A good film is a component of many things including a good script. Although even at seventy-five minutes there are scenes which are dragged out longer than needs be, the general concept and premise of the storyline is somewhat a novelty.
It straddles the numerous realms and plains of existence without resorting to witchcraft and babalawos. The film is devoid of demonic cackling and jealous stepmothers which adds to the quality of the script rather than subtracts because it forces the audience to question the role of cultural beliefs in Temisan’s life. Of course, there is a deceptive friend and I can share this because it is revealed so early one in the film. Now it would be a Nollywood film without it jor!
If you have just over an hour in your day to spare, this is a good film to catch. It’s not too heavy, the plot - true to its Nollywood roots - is not overly deep. The cinematography however, is something to be appreciated.
There is something about a slight greenish blue hue that makes any standard Nollywood movie feel like it’s about to be nominated for the Sundance Film Festival. I don’t give ratings but it would be nice to see films such as this replace the frequency of Telenovelas on West African television screens.
Written By : Charlene Bello
Written By : Charlene Bello
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