A very good effort from SOME of my people here in Trinidad, my country. Why such a low rating? Well there was some things I just cannot overlook despite my patriotism.
POSITIVES - on the bright side - they used really expensive cameras and got some high quality shots including some nice drone shots. The Father character was by FAR the BEST actor - the only person I can call an actor in the movie - his scenes felt like an actual movie.
The director if she in fact did control the camera shots did a good job of shooting it well. It didn't look amateur in that way.
I do not know if foreigners were involved in making this movie - for instance a video and audio team who took that responsibility - but I wouldnt be surprised if there was. I doubt everyone was Trinidadian unless it was all wealthier than usual people. But nevertheless - the director did a good job shooting things and I could hear every dialogue clearly so hats off to that!
Now to the stuff I am critical of. Before I speak on it I do want to congratulate the Director - I could tell she gave a good effort and I would have liked to see her instead do a small production even just with her alone and not a big team helping because the film feels like 'too many cooks in the kitchen' - Let's get into it.
The acting is by far the worst part of this movie FOR ME. I realize many other reviewers all said they adored the star girl's acting and the star villain. While yes the villain's acting is passable - he wasn't challenged to do anything that hard in any scenes but whew - the star girl's acting was just really - it could have used a LOT of work and i mean a lot lot lot.
I even tried to like her acting but EVERY single word she said took me 'out' of the movie. It felt very fake and even cheesy because of the added script - her dialogue - the voice overs made little sense to me - The writer of this movie really needed to work a lot on it before getting to shooting.
I think the talent on this movie would have worked better for a lifetime movie or 'tv special' that was a legit 're-enacted documentary' - docu-drama. Minus all dialogue - and minus need for story -
When it comes to the villain - I am guessing we were supposed to feel sorry for him - compassion for him - but I DID NOT. In fact, I just saw him as a petty criminal horrid person more and more as the movie went on until I hated him more than anything to the end - why ? Because I didn't have any need to feel sorry for him - he didn't have some hard life - and even if he did - who cares? It doesn't give him the right to do crime. So I guess the movie completely missed me on that.
Next I don't mind the speaking of proper english on movies coming out of the caribbean because newsflash - WE DO SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH and not all of us use 'TRINI SLANG' - with a heavy 'TRINI ACCENT' - so that's fine - but this movie seemed to have people speaking a strangely 'forced' mix of proper english and trini slang accent which again, took me out of the movie - it became distracting and felt inauthentic, but maybe that's just me - I just felt like they were saying things in a weird sounding way.
The Father sounded normal as could be - I think if everyone talked like him it would be a big improvement and again, call me unpatriotic if you want - but it's my opinion.
In conclusion - It was a good effort - but a lot in this movie 'took me out of it' and downright made me stop wanting to watch (and not in a good way). I think it was stretched out way too far. The entire first half could have been shorted to a few minutes even. Again - the story/script writer - I would have suggested revising.
We dont get movies made by Trinidadians in Trinidad so this was a welcome surprise. I don't know why no one makes movies but hey - that's just how it is. So I guess when a movie like this gets made, especially with some international connections (?) - distributions - it is congratulated at the getgo. I hope that my own congratulations to the movie were heard clearly - but at the same time - I had to be honest because I disgreed so much with a lot of reviewers especially local reviewers in my country.
I think everyone involved in the movie was a GOOD PERSON- I'm trying not to be a 'hater' here - Good on you all - But this is a 2 out of 10 for me. Take care all.
