Award winning director, Niyi Towolawi is out with a new feature, Desecration starring a mixed cast from Nigeria and the UK. The movie follows a casual encounter between a married man Olushola Daniels (Joseph Benjamin) and an obsessed single lady, Linda Bruce (Rita Dominic). Caught between loyalty to his wife and fear of his fling, his life becomes a living nightmare as his past actions threaten the future of his family.
Hits
– Acting. The acting was generally good all round. Rita Dominic wore the role of Linda Bruce like a glove never for once going out of character till the very end. Also worthy of commendation is the on-screen mother and daughter duo of Nicola Alexis and Angela Agala. They both interpreted their roles superbly and brought a certain level of control in their delivery.
– Location. One of the benefits of shooting in a country like England is the availability of a variety of locations for film shoots. The locations selected for the indoor and outdoor scenes were reflective of 21st century London in which the movie was set in without showing off or going down the tourist path.
– Casting. The movie benefits from a mix of experienced faces from Nollywood such as Rita Dominic and Joseph Benjamin as well as the UK such as Nicola Alexis, Max Cavenham and Angel Agala. For a movie that first opened at the box office in England in 2016 before hitting Nigeria in 2017, it achieves a good balance of Nigerian and UK based actors necessary to draw in viewers across both countries. Also worthy of note is the casting of child actress, Angel Agala who pulls off her role as a British child born to Nigerian parents with ease.
Misses
– Storyline. The premise was set up very nicely early in the movie and progressed very well almost till the end when the film started to drag and was hurriedly wrapped up. The ending especially left a lot to be desired because the action leading up to the final scene made it look a tad melodramatic and unrealistic.
– Pacing. This could have been as a result of the storyline or the plot or even both. The movie relied a lot on dialogue which slowed the pace. One would have expected the action to pick up or perhaps some scenes could have done with more editing to speed things up.
– Photography. While the picture was clean, the camera work was below expectation as some of the shots were shaky. A stronger and collective effort from the Director Of Photography and cinematographer would have gone a long way in lifting the photography of the film.
Reviewed by Isabella Akinseye.
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