Naked Faces

Ghanaian Movie Review
Naked Faces ~ 2010
Repackaged as OPEN SCANDAL
Story – Larry Traveller
Screenplay – Pascal Amanfo
Director – Pascal Amanfo
Producer – Moses Avwunugbe

Starring:
Majid Michel – Frank Boateng Ghanaian Actor
Ecow Smith Asante – Leslie Cole Ghanaian Actor
Prince David Osei – Max Boadu
Kalsum Sinare – Madam Catherine Cole Ghanaian Actress
Vivian Achor – Judge
Martha Ankomah – Mabel
Pascal Amanfo – Narrator
Nash Alexis Smith – Kidnapper

Themes:
Friendship in Ghanaian Movies
Betrayal in Ghanaian Movies
Secrecy in a Ghanaian Movie
Deportation from Ghana
Relationship Issues in Ghollywood
Cougars in Ghollywood
Sugar Mummy in Ghana
Keeping Up With The Joneses in Ghana

My Rating – 83%

Frank, Leslie and Max are best friends. Leslie played by Ecow Smith Asante and given the title “Mummy’s Boy” is at loggerheads with his mother over taking over his father’s business. Max played by Prince David Osei and given the title “Mr Smooth” is constantly fighting with his girlfriend Mabel, played by Martha Ankomah who is titled “The Nag” because she wants to get married but he is not “ready for that level of commitment.” Frank, played by Majid Michel and given the title “desperado” is back in Ghana having been recently from Sweden after dabbling in the drugs trade. A central character in the movie is Leslie’s mother Catherine Cole, and she is given the title “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” and so called for reasons we found out later in the plot.

************SPOILERS*************

I like the way that the characters were introduced at the beginning of the movie. The presentation was very sleek and stylish and it lets the viewer know who is who from the outset, so you don’t have the problem of getting half way through the film and realising that you don’t even know the main character’s name.

The Narrator
The movie is narrated by a mad scientist type, played by Pascal Amanfo. His scenes are presented in black and white which sets it apart from the actual story line. The “Mad Scientist” is writing a script and so interjects between scenes to perhaps show the viewer how a script comes about and what goes on in a writer’s mind. At first I didn’t quite get the point of the narrator but then I grew to like the concept of watching the movie as it was being written, and the narrator being able to delete and rewrite a scene similar to how it might happen in real life. It didn’t take away anything from the film except when he was using crass language. He kept asking using the words “fuck” and “fucking.” I thought that that was highly unnecessary.

The Affair
The intensity when Frank meets Catherine is very apparent and from that moment you can sort of guess that they are going to get entangled into some sort of illicit affair. The scene that had me cracking up when I don’t think I should have been is where Catherine attempts to seduce Frank properly for the first time. She comes out of her room in a cream top that looks like a big ol’ crocheted table cloth and utters to Frank in a highly seductive whisper, “D’you like ma top?” I couldn’t even breathe between the laughter. The top was so hideous and added a lot of weight to her I could only imagine Frank turning and saying to her, “OH Hell Na!” Of course he didn’t though.

Friendship
Leslie takes Franks to his mother’s house, gets him a job and a new wardrobe after he returns to Ghana with nothing. I think that Leslie was hurt even more by the betrayal because this was someone who he took into his home and trusted implicitly like a brother, so the secrecy and betrayal hit him hard. I wonder if he would have taken it so bad if his mother or Frank had come to him and told him that they were having a relationship? No doubt the fact that his mother was funding Frank would have made him feel like Frank was taking advantage of his mother. Why should Frank take money from his mother when they are already providing for all his needs?

At one point Catherine and Frank are in her room frolicking on the bed when Leslie comes in. Frank manages to hide in time and we see Catherine pretending to have a headache to hide her shock and anxiety. Leslie is standing in front of his mama wearing a T Shirt that says, I (HEART) PORN I MASTURBATE. At this point I began to understand how the parent/son lines had been blurred. If your son has the nerve to wear a top like that in front of you then you are clearly operating more on a friendship level. It is no wonder that Catherine fell into a sexual relationship with Frank, as Frank was like a friend too, like her son.

Sugar Mama
It was my initial thought that Catherine was actually falling for Frank, and so would of course want him to be attracted to her too, hence her starting to dress herself up more. So you can imagine my surprise when quite early on in the relationship she says to him, “If you play your cards right you can end up with a car like this,” and points to a brand spanking new car. That confused me because that was like she was almost bribing him to like her. Once you offer someone a car for paying attention to you that is like acknowledging that they are not attracted to you. So from foxy cougar she turns into a sugar mama, but I guess the two terms are not mutually excusive, so perhaps she was a bit of both.

Keeping Up With The Joneses
Mabel dumps Max after meeting an old friend Solange who boasts about having just got married and moving with her husband to the US. After speaking with Solange she feels envious and embarrassed that her friend has got married, but yet she has no promise of marriage despite being with Max for 6 years. We then later see Mabel bump into an acquaintance of hers, a poor carpenter called Max, who has a speech impediment. He is pleading with her to borrow money to help fund his upcoming wedding. His “bride” walks down the stairs behind him and *SHOCK HORROR* it is Solange, the same girl who was bragging about moving to the US.

Mabel realises that she has been lied to and in that one moment regret comes to her for dumping Max, all because of a girl that is going out with a guy that is basically a poor beggar. We see in this scene how one should always have their own convictions and not follow others. What is right for one person may not be right for another. One should never compare their own relationship to another relationship because you never know what is going on in another person’s relationship. Even if Solange did move to America with her husband. Does that mean she is happy? Does that mean she is being treated well? All this cannot be known from a mere story about travelling to America. The only thing that you can do is concentrate on your own relationship and happiness. In trying to keep up with the Joneses Mabel has lost a man that she now realises is a pretty good man compared to what is out there.

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I would definitely recommend this movie. From the outset I was excited about watching it because the standard in the presentation of the credits alone was a lot higher than some of this trash I have been watching lately.I loved the twist and although an affair with Frank was almost inevitable from the moment their eyes met I was in no way prepared for the twist that later came about. In the end the narrator tells us, “Sometimes the story doesn’t end the way we expect.” TRUE THAT I thought the ending was perfect and it is left open as to shot her as it could have been by the hand of many different people. Kudos to the entire cast and crew. On the whole a great job! THUMBS UP!