Movie Review

               

             JUNE.

June is a romantic comedy, mediocrely directed and produced by Desmond Elliot and Chinney Love respectively. They presented the very familiar tale of a dissatisfied rich kid who is not afraid to give up his inheritance for genuine happiness, in a not so impressing way.

June is a tale of a wedding planner, June (Michelle Dede), who had given her life to ensuring that her clients get their dream wedding with the hope that one day, the marriage gods will smile at her and reward her with her own; a hope that was constantly dashed by her time waster of a boyfriend. Having lived past the age of 30 in a typical Nigerian society, her mother, Chinyere Wilfred, will stop at nothing to see her daughter not just get married but also redeem her integrity before her friends, most of whom are now grandmothers.  

Also enthralling this movie were the amazing characters of June’s friends played by Empress Njamah and Uche Jombo; not forgetting the surprising and refreshing feature of Vector Tha Viper.

The plot of this movie was by no means a fresh idea, with no intention whatsoever by the directing team to be unpredictable. June was no far from the Nollywood movies of my childhood; the ones where the audience could very easily predict the end of the movie from the beginning. From the introduction of Toni Tones character, we all knew exactly how the movie would go.

This is particularly sad for me because I was beginning to gain trust in Nollywood again, with recently produced movies that had twists so expertly constructed and unpredictable, that one would easily forgive the repetitiveness of the storyline. Then June comes along.

Amidst this much distaste, I will like to take a moment to applaud the characters for their flawless performance. They succeeded in redeeming Desmond Elliot status as certainly not the best director but a man with great skill for casting movies.

The cinematography of this movie, broke my heart even further. There was nothing exciting about the cinematography; not an over-the-world camera angle nor the best lighting in a movie. I also had issues with the audio of this film. It was a mash up of an overly loud soundtrack and a not so clear vocal from the character.

One other thing that we all found displeasing to say the least was the lack of attention to the little details. How in this world will a Samsung ring tone blast out of an iPhone? And this happened in almost all the scenes where a phone rang. It couldn’t have been that hard to download the iPhone costumed ringtone or just customizing every character’s ringtone to one or more of Vector’s song after all, he was a character in the movie. Whew!

On a lighter note, the characters finally made my money worth its value. They gave it the right amount of humor and seriousness that I am sure the story writer intended when writing this one. So let’s talk Characters for a bit.

Just like in my review of The Women, I found it difficult picking out my best act in this movie. The casting was certainly deliberate and suitable, with actors ranging from Michelle Dede and a delight from the past, Empress Njamah, it was a project well executed.

Michelle Dede played the role of June, the lead character, and she was no doubt the best fit for this role. She interpreted her role so effortlessly that one could feel and almost touch the anger, frustration and joy in each scene she needed to exhibit these emotions. Like when her boyfriend of five years took her on a romantic dinner all to just give her a promise ring – Anger; or almost all the scenes where she had to deal with Toni Tones – Frustration and finally her scenes with Vector – Joy.

Empress Njamah finally won an unconscious battle that had been lingering between the new cats of Nollywood and the legends. She played the role of Remi, the frustrated and now desperate over 30-year-old lady who will do everything a desperate lady will do to find a man, i.e. throw herself at every man that comes her way, all in name of finding a husband.

Chinyere Wilfred was that mother figure that every single lady who is past the age of 30, loves a lot but will never go visiting because she will spend a large part of your stay with her explaining how much of a disaster and spiritual attack not to be married at that age is. If you are a single lady, you will find her scenes hilarious and natural.

Finally, Vector Tha Viper was my act of the movie. He killed his performance. Shy most of the time but was a delight to watch. He asked his future wife out in the cutest way I have ever seen; in fact, the lady seated beside me just kept on blushing and remarking how much she will love to be asked out by him. After watching this movie, you will like him even more, if you have ever liked him and if you haven’t? best believe you will start.

In summary, by now, it should be very evident that the actors exhibiting their characters was the only aspect of the movie I enjoyed. On a scale of zero to five, I’d score this movie a TWO.

I recommend this movie to you if you are a proud Nollywood watcher, who is always impressed with good characterization. Plus, the movie will make you laugh too.   

Go, see the movie, have fun and tell me what you feel about it in the comment section below. Hopefully, the next time I go see a movie I can get your verbal reaction of what you think about the movie #Wink

Full Cast

Michelle Dede – June

Toni Tones – Toke

Uche Jombo – Ejiro

Empress Njamah – Remi

Chinyere Wilfred – June’s Mother

Vector Tha Viper -

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……….Talk2urHommie……….