IJE the Journey

There are many amazing things about the story. First of all the story on its own is phenomenal, but more than the story I was impressed by the social issues being raised in the background of the movie. How Chineze was able to touch on everything from racism to social stigma associated with rape victims to the conflicts in the Northern parts of Nigeria between the Igbos and the Hausas to illegal immigration to the pursuit of the American dream to the force of one’s desire to please ‘papa’. I really…. I really… *breathes out*… words can’t do this movie justice.

-Originality: [5 out of 5] Loved loved loved… absolutely adored the storyline, and…

-Predictability: [5 out of 5] …the way it ended? Not exactly what I had expected (because it was much much better). 

-Directing/Editing: [4 out of 5] Pascal Atuma describes Chineze, in his own words “Chineze is action. Not talk talk talk talk”. If all Nollywood USA movies were of this calibre, made-in-asaba movies would have been long extinct. Absolutely amazing cinematography, editing, just generally amazing work all round. A couple Igbo dialogues here and there were without subtitles but besides that this was immaculate

-Acting quality: [4 out of 5] Genevieve and Omotola in one movie. We’re all probably thinking the same thing… killer combo. And they both held true to what they stand for… ‘acting’. Actual acting. Actual acting at its best. 

To me, both ladies had outstanding performances but as Omotola’s character required more depth and a wealth of emotions, and the fact that she delivered each emotion line for line, tear for tear, word for word… ah! Omosexy was murderous.

Lest I underestimate the tremendous skill it takes to bring tears to the viewers eyes by doing nothing other than orally narrating a scenario… Genevieve killed it!

Extremely… extremely… extremely impressed by Ulrich Que (who plays Barr. Turner), did an amazing job. Generally speaking, all the extras were amazing. I loved that Chineze actually sought out real talent (as opposed to randomly picking any white man from the streets and putting him in front of a camera because his skin color matches the bill). Safe for some scenes were the extras could have been stronger, the acting in this movie was amazing.

-Setting: [5 out of 5] A job beyond well done

-Costume/Make-Up: [5 out of 5] On point. Especially loved Genevieve’s trad/english combos.

-Video Quality: [4 out of 5] On point

-Soundtrack: [4 out of 5] I am looking for a link to download/buy the soundtrack… Listen to the full song here

-Musical Score: [5 out of 5] At some parts of the movie, I had to mute it (partly because I’m chicken but mostly…) because the score did such an amazing job building tension that even I myself was scared for the characters on screen.