Friday, March 20, 2009

What's Becoming Of Our Ghanaian Movies.!!

Looks like making enemies is the easiest thing to do lately, all you have to do is to air your views by what ever means and you are sure to make an arch-enemy who will give up his life to pin you down.

As far as I am concerned, speaking up is not a crime at all for as long as my comments are constructive and are of a good measure. Film acting is not only an explorative showbiz or profession, but that which also calls for demonstration of gifts in evoking naturality.

I have always prefered our own local movies to foreign ones whiles living abroad because there's no doubt that I've missed out on a lot of things from home hence after a hard day's work, I get fixed to a Naija [tr: another name for a Nigerian] or Ghana-man movie which I deem, a hobby. Recently, I've been getting angry with what turns out to be a sheer gibberish and a waste of precious time.

Let no one think I am ''bad-mouthing'' our movie industry because that is not the case at all, and for those who share my sentiments they will bear with me on the note that some of these local movies are just too hard to watch. Massa, they are just too hard. Period!

If I have to compare the horror of watching our Ghanaian movies to a real sci-fi horror,''My bloody valentine'', I would say, ironically, the horror feeling is not in the movie's ability to exude terror and to hold viewers intrigued but the horror lies in the boredom of seeing the same old faces, the blend of both professional and unprofessional acting, the recurrent use of foul language amongst many other flaws that's plagued the movie industry so badly leaving viewers questioning, whats going to happen next?

Intrigue!

I have watched'' life and living it'' and for those who have seen it will have all thumbs up for Shirley, I wont say it was perfect but it certainly had elements that one could fairly acknowledge as a good movie but what I couldn't stand, was the language. It was either someone was busily swearing unnecessarily or nearly everyone was playing the fake American or British accent which to me was appalling.

The characters of Rama Brew and Bibi Brew were great in terms of language and accent, some other actors were equally good but for those who kept an eye closely, the bad nuts were all too visible. Can I ask question please? Who said swearing,''fuck!,"shit!", "bloody!", etc is a sign of elitism? Or maybe, is there a con structural clause that says,''no swearing, no acting?''  Please tell me!

Well your guess is as good as mine.

Credits to all the boring and outmoded faces of Jackie Appiah, Nadia BuariVan Vicker amongst many others. Is it that they are just too good that no new one joins the club or they are all we have for now? I guess that is what we trade for if producers decide to extort money from up coming actors all in the name of '' paying for or buying audition forms''. Why does Van Vicker have a "Joseph" in his names and he's not using it? 

As for the poor and mutilated story lines plus the unprofessional skills in acting, I suppose these are all well noted ingredients adding up to a bad movie day for the ''choice less'' viewer sitting behind the screen.

Don't take this as a movie review as it is not and can't be, this is the opinion of a loyal fan of any thing Ghanaian, proudly Made In Ghana and a passionate viewer of these advanced "Akan drama'' polished up in English.

In fact I am just tired of defending all this rubbish called movies as every time I sit in my lounge with shame staring at my face while my Naija [tr: another name for a Nigerian] counterparts jeer and cheer their hearts out to their overrated ''nollywood'' movies. It is not like they are better than as but maybe the difference lays in what if I can be forgiven and allowed, I may invite the ghost of Suzzy Williams to attest to. 

Pardon me, my dear reader; let me ask this question. Who kill that fine actress?? Its a big question but if you think, you have answers, please feel free and let me [us] know.. 

I believe nothing is going to change if we do not shape up our ways, I can certainly predict we are going to keep seeing hilarious "Agya Koo" and "Kyeiwaa" incite some laughter in us that will make us crack our ribs in pain while our tear ducts run dry of tears.


Shaping up our crocked ways may take quite a lot but not too difficult to do. If producers will encourage the young ones and new faces into the industry rather than entrenching themselves as the over lords of our movies, I think we'll surely get somewhere. If young ones, especially ladies, would get their priorities right by not allowing men in between their legs with intent of becoming celebrities, I should think; that will also ease the burden of a bad movie day for a viewer.

Actors and actress should be fair to acknowledge what a bad script is and should be able to critic their own works, if that seems too difficult to do, kindly hire a professional movie critic and surely that is the one with common sense. They be interested in the needs of the viewers to who these movies are made for and not just the cash that they earn making them feel like bank-able actors on top of the world.

The bad language and swear words should be stopped in all because it teaches nothing at all in the end. Swear words are regarded as very rude in the developed cultures were these languages are thought to be ''acceptable'' in ours. 

And to the producers and all the the architects both on screen and behind the scenes, you would  bear with me that, one person playing the roles of a writer, producer and director is just too ''dangerous'', because not only are those roles exhausting but they deprive one the ability to come out with a flawless movie. And for people advancing from other fields into the movie industry,these three- in- one roles can just add up to our already selected ingredients to making a real bad movie day for all.

For a start people should be ready to share these roles and to accept criticism, there's no doubt that one can execute these roles perfectly after building a reputable experience base which surely comes with time. With all these having been said, I look forward to a positive change in this vain, and just like many others before me, I do not know if some one is listening or even reading but I surely look forward to the day that I can also subject my naija or anago counterparts to ridicule in my defence and most importantly.

I dream of the day a Ghanaian movie can churn my feelings around with its thrill and intrigue satisfying my need after a real hard day's work. M-I-G y'all.

God bless Ghana-man !!!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really found this note interesting. I believe, there are many good looking and pretty ladies out there who can play the same roles Jackie and Nadia have been playing constantly. I just found out that, Jackie and Nadia are both dual-citizens in respect that, they were born in different countries but have the parents to be Ghanaians. Is that what is making them appear on the silver screen every time? I believe, producers should try as much as possible to unearth new talents for the movie industry. I can't wait to be at screening of the "Perfect Picture" movie soon.. Hope, I shall see you there, man!
Good piece!

Emmanuel.K.Bensah II said...

Dude! Liked your piece. Am with you on the Van Vickers. I like Frimpong-Manso as well, but her propensity to think swearing is de rigeur in a film is in my view a weakness in her film-style.

I saw "Scorned", too, and the swearing in some places was totally unnecessary. Oh well. Still a lot of work to do!

BTW, I like your blog, and will recommend you join ghanablogging.com. The URL is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ghanablogging.

We also have a list-serv, which we discuss blogging about Ghana, etc, as well as a monthly meet-up.

Hope to see you soon on http://www.ghanablogging.com!

Anonymous said...

Well said bro. I couldn't have written a better article.

That being said, I love Agya Koo. Can't wait to work on a local production with him one day

Enyonam said...

I love this piece! Wa ka asem no!! What ticks me off is when these movies name their characters after foreign artists. I mean, what is this new nonsense? If it isn't Rihaana, its Beyonce or, Ciara.

Last week I saw a poster of a movie titled Fantasia.. I'm so sure you can figure out what I was thinking.

Lady A said...

Oh I really like this! I understand how you are feeling however, I have heard nothing but good things about Gollywood (is that right?). How Ghana movies are better then the Naija. I think they do it to attract as viewers, dunno, but I feel you.

Unknown said...

@ Lady A: Thanks for passing by and also for your comment. Sure, there's a lot of goodies coming from Ghallywood but I bet, our Ghanaian movies need a very good looked at. I can see a couple of movies houses are polishing their ways of coming out with movies these days..!!!