Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever
Loosing You
Story, Screenplay and Direction – Tchidi Chikere
Starring:
Van Vicker – Ernest
Tonto Dikeh – Theresa
Juliet Ibrahim – Rose
Ifeanyi Ikechukwu – Mark
Prince Eke – Justus
Jnr Pope Odonwodo – Martin
Linda Kurt – Augusta
Kpobo Ekwaraye – Katie
Themes Explored
Sickle Cell in African Love
Love in Africa
Hypocrisy in African Society
My Rating – 72%
Ernest and Theresa are madly in love, engaged and about to be married. During their engagement they find out that they both possess the AS genotype which means that if they have children there is the chance that they could be a sickler. They are told in no uncertain terms by Ernest’s father that they must stop seeing each other as the health of their future children is of greater importance than the love that they share.
If you were madly in love and about to get married would you give up your love because your kids MIGHT have sickle cell? That is unimaginable to me, but obviously these things do happen. Theresa and Ernest are treated as if they are murderers by their friends and family. The empathy is totally lacking as if it were solely a business arrangement they had been planning and not a couple in love planning a life long union.
After they are spoken to by Ernest’s father Theresa flees the house and they agree to separate. Both parties take it badly, turning to booze in a bid to numb the pain of the break-up. We see them both on separate occasions chatting up the opposite sex while drunk, the heartbreak so abundantly clear.
*************SPOILERS*************
Before the movie even starts we have Tchidi showcasing his music…What can I say? Movies is his thing (except actually starring in them) and he should stick to that as he does it well. As for the music… it was pretty bad but I guess it was catchy because as I type this I can remember the melody and some of the lyrics. Although that is probably because he also had his music as the ring tone for one of the characters in the movie, and as the backing tracks throughout.
In one of the songs he was wailing “hoooold meeeeeeeeee..” This was accompanied by one long ass scene between Ernest and Theresa crying, wailing and holding onto each other because they just found out they were both AS and couldn’t be together. They are both crying buckets of tears and in the beginning it is touching, but then it goes on and on and on. In fact it was a whole four long minutes of “hoooold meeeeeeeeee.” and wailing… Wow excruciating. Every time the camera shot would change I would prepare myself for the next scene but then it would be “ hoooold meeeeeeeeeeee!” Looking back its kinda funny but at the time it so was not.
Enough of Tchidi’s music. The story was kind of slow in the first half of part one but then started to pick up in the latter part and then again in part two the pace really quickened and it became more interesting with the introduction of Juliet and Justus. The picture and sound were fine and most of the cast gave good solid performances.
One scene that I just have to comment on is when Justus wants to surprise Theresa with some new things. He arranges for some thugs to accost her in front of her workplace and strip her of her bag, shoes and accessories… I mean what kind of surprise is this? I wouldn’t find it funny at all. The thugs then present her with a bag with new things in it, but they walk away taking her old things, including her phone with the sim card. What kind of nonsense is that really? Would she not want her old bag and shoes and phone? Then to top it off the plastic bag they present to her with the new things in is one manhandled, wrinkled old looking bag. As soon as she saw the new things Theresa was jumping for joy. She even went as far as to say,
“That is the craziest, most romantic thing I’ve ever seen.”
Wow it didn’t look romantic to me at all… Who even thought of that crap? Oh yeah Tchidi probably… Oh and let me mention this again… WHAT IS UP WITH THAT PINK DOT? YES it was there again! How many times will I have to say it? And yet again the common factor is Tchidi Chikere, so until advised otherwise I am blaming him.
Hypocrisy is one of the themes in this movie. Ernest is the hypocritical one. He knows that she is distraught about the break up yet he rings her to flaunt his new flame. I thought that that was very insensitive, and the nerve for him to expect her to be happy about it. Why would she be when she is hurting? Theresa on the other hand doesn’t go out of her way to tell Ernest anything about her new man yet when he sees them together in the car park of a restaurant he totally flips out and calls her to chastise her for going with him to the restaurant that they used to go to as a couple. He even turns up at her work place and tries to prevent her from going to lunch with Justus when he was the one to move on first. He later even has the nerve to turn up at her house and complain that he complained to rose and she refused, and expect her to comfort him. Ernest was entirely too much!
Overall the film was solidly good. After you got past the first half of part one it became more enjoyable, The standout performance was Tonto Dikeh (have I said that one before?) I am beginning to feel like a parrot but this girl really knows how to emote and you could see how the crying scenes really drained her. She really gave her all. She had chemistry with Van but I feel it was more on her side than his. His performance was slightly flat. Juliet Ibrahim was consistently ok but then lost it at the part where her character and Justus catch their prospective partners together. I don’t know what emotion she was trying to show but it just looked like she was practising emotions. It was a mess. More practise methinks. Tonto’s hair looked fab … in fact I thought it was real until she placed her palm at the top of her head to brush it. Nollywood really has come a long way from the SOCIETY LADY days where the women wore big blond wigs with the black naps showing underneath. This is progress ooo! I would recommend the film. Go and get it, unless you are fed up of the pink dot. If you can no longer take the pink dot then leave this one alone. LOL
I just finally got round to watching this movie- I thought the bit about them separating was a bit silly though. Even if you are both AS and can't have kids together, what about the possibility of adopting? My worry here is Van Vicker and Tonto Dike- they are acting in too many movies and hence becoming a bit boring- If you look at Genevieve and Ramsey, they don't act in too many movies and when they do, they tend to have more hits than misses- but I suppose that it comes with experience as they have both been acting for such a long time and they are getting better with time. Ramsey was brilliant in A Private Storm and Genevieve delivered an excellent performance in Bursting Out. I frankly don't give a shit whether Ghanaians or Nigerians are the better actors or whether Ghanaian movies get more reviews than Nigerian movies and vice versa; firstly we have to remember that Nollywood is a much bigger industry than Ghollywood and therefore will produce more crappy movies- Ghollywood tends to stick with a smaller number of producers such as Mumumi and Frank Rajah which I think explains why many Ghanaian actors go to Nigeria to work- correct me if I am wrong. Secondly these are two different nations with different cultures and at the end of the day, we are all Africans who should learn to love one another. It is a good thing though that actors from both countries collaborate on movies. Nollywood, please don't let your blog become a forum for Ghanaians and Nigerians bashing one another.
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