Movie Title: Superstar
Year of Release: 2021
Director: Akhigbe Ilozobhie
Cast: Nancy Isime (Queen), Daniel Etim Effiong (Hassani), Eku Edewor (Teni), Timini Egbuson (Delarin), Ufuoma McDermott (Muna), Deyemi Okanlawon (Babs), Teniola Aladese (Cynthia), Shine Rosman (Tolani Talker) and Lord Frank (Frank Okafor).
Synopsis
Queen was an up-and-coming actor searching for her big break. Together with Cynthia (a friend she met at an audition) and Delarin (her boyfriend), she goes from audition to audition seeking that one big break. One time she almost got it, but an encounter with a randy producer (Frank Okafor) meant a premature death of the big break. This continued until the proverbial one day when the stars aligned, and Queen finally found fame and stardom. But the story did not end there, and this was where Superstar began to go awfully wrong.
Story
Queen’s story is not different from the grass to grace narrative of many actors (Nigerian and International) and realising this, the writer/director introduced lots of conflicts to Superstar and tried to resolve all of them. What this did was to drag the movie out unnecessarily and leave the viewer confused. One minute Queen was being betrayed by her friends, the next she was being blackmailed, another minute she was accused of manslaughter/murder, next her boyfriend gets cancer. All in a 1 hour 55 minutes movie! Another minus for the story was having us believe that the law will allow an accused celebrity to go free due to pressure from fans. Not to give out too much of the story but another thorny issue was the jail scene. First, Queen had been in jail for some days, yet she was looking as fresh as she did on the day she was arrested. Second the movie will have us believe that Queen’s jail mates waited for days before they started discussing her identity amongst themselves or trying to harass her. This was also not realistic.
Casting
This was good. From Queen to Hassani to Babs to Teni to Cynthia.
Acting
Great performance from all cast members.
Cinematography
Inkblot Studios did not slack on this.
Sound
This was mostly good, but there were some scenes where there was this rise and fall in sound and it was hard to pick out what the actors were saying.
Conclusion
Superstar, though started well, later veered in so many directions and at the end failed to make a lasting impression.
