MOVING ON

“Moving On” is a family drama centered around the pains from loss, grief, trauma, love, and finding one’s feet again.

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PLOT

Henry, on one hand, is married to Eno. And like many marriages, theirs is not devoid of misunderstandings, bickerings, and back and forths. Soon, tragedy strikes.

On the other hand is Amaka, a 34 year old single lady under pressure to get married. She’s equally in the labor market hunting for a job.

Henry would then cross paths with Amaka, and the rest of the movie sees decisions, regrets, losses, pains, heartaches, and the general call for help to find healing.

MY TAKE

This movie may appear predictable, but it’s not! It actually took me through a rollercoaster of a guess game and managed to slip off through the next route every single time till the end.

It had an amazing, engaging, and intriguing start and progressed with a superb storytelling style. One that fills each moment with something to hope for in the next scene.

The picture quality, sound score, and cinematography were superb. Props, location, costume, and makeup are simply naturally beautiful. Without trying to do too much, script and line delivery were as natural as natural, which can be incredible.

Now, speaking of props, let’s take a moment and talk about Henry’s house! Gosh! I love the interior minimalist design; breathtaking it was! The home cinema! Just how I like it, especially tallying with the portrayed lifestyle of the character. Though I would have loved to see the exterior, too.

All the actors delivered their roles really well. Jide Kene & Shaznay gave an incredibly believable performance, I was instantly drawn into their world.

Message was delivered crisp, which is “do not rush into decisions without first healing from a past pain(s)." The background music performed by Ike Ogbu was just so delicious.

Loved the character Erika (played by Deborah Frankson). I mean, the actress interpreted it really well. Love her diction.

This was indeed a great watch, albeit there are few areas I’d like to point out:

1. The duration: This movie could have been conveniently executed within 20 or 30 minutes less of the entire runtime of 2 hours.

2. I guess this has to do with limitations as to budget, but Erika’s apartment only had one view the whole time, from start to finish. A three-seater sofa in one corner of the living room.
   I mean, I longed to see a kitchen, a bedroom, or even a bathroom. Pardon me, but maybe it’s just because of my obsession with house decors. I wanted to feed my eyes, for variety sake. Or maybe it’s all down to an oversight on the director’s part or camera angles.

3. When Amaka took on that job, did she not read up on company policies, especially pertaining to intricate & delicate matters before signing her terms of contract? Why then was she oblivious of that one singular thing?

4. I would have loved to see more of Amaka & her mum. And something about the mum character or actor who played the role just didn’t feel right, in my opinion. There wasn’t much of a mother-daughter connection. I guess this is owing to a character mismatch. Well, maybe it’s just me. I know Amaka mentioned some break in bond, but that’s different.

5. I would have loved to see Amaka’s other boss. He was relegated to a mere mention, thereby denying us the pleasure of judging whether to love or loathe him. Not fair on a viewer like me.

Overall, this was simply enjoyable, entertaining, relaxing, and worth the watch. I was beaming with smiles most of the time. And oh! That funeral scene…it felt too real.

My score for the entire outcome of the movie was already beginning to drop concerning a very core detail until this was salvaged in the ending scene! That was very clever! Kept me hanging and questioning till the end. Loved how this ended. Though cliche but…it had me smiling.

It is a brilliant story, smooth plot, wonderful cast, and an amazing performance there by all involved in this project! Bravo, I say, BRAVO.

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Greetings!