Review of "House of Gold"

TITLE: House of Gold

GENRE: Drama/Comedy

DIRECTOR: Pascal Amanfo

STORY/SCREENPLAY: Pascal Amanfo

PRODUCER: Yvonne Nelson

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Eugene Brown Tagbor

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Media Ghana

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Liebe Edem Ametewee

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Valce Dakup

POST PRODUCTION: Perfect Image Studios

EDITOR/GRAPHICS: Okey Benson

STARRING: Majid Michel, Yvonne Nelson, Luckie Lawson, Eddie Watson Jnr, Omawumi Megbele, Francis Odega, Dream Debo, Amatobea Dodoo, Emefa Tse, Mercy Chinwo, Ice Prince Zamani, Sandra Ankobia and many others.

For a director and writer like Pascal Amanfo, I was really disappointed after watching the star-studded well-advertised House of Gold. As I said, most of our directors adapt without considering the cultural ethics of the people. Being a bad habit among these creative people, it has caused them not to tap into their inner creativity. The latest among this bad habit can be seen in House of Gold which may have been adapted from Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion. It may have been twisted to look different but looking at the story critically, one will notice the similarities both in story, language, culture and others. I surely do not have problems with adaptations of stories, but when the cultural ethics of the people are ignored, that is where I get 'pissed'.

With the establishing of characters in the movie, I got to know Majid Michel as a pilot, Jamal and his wife Jasmine having marital problems, Yvonne Nelson as a Model, Henry as a book worm, Omawumi as a business woman and Umar being gay. Now, such characterization got me confused as I did not understand the bases for it; whether it was occupational, relational complications, intellect or lifestyle. 

With the general acting skill of the actors, I will discuss some specific characters based on their role. The first will be Luckie Lawson. She may have been established as a frustrated housewife, but that cannot be a reason to exaggerate her act. As the winner of the ‘Spirited Actor’ reality show, which saw the likes of Umar, I was really disappointed with her act. She definitely forgot the fact that a film is a visual representation of real life. The second will be Yvonne Nelson. The problem of over-confidence or will I call it over-complacency was clearly seen in her actions. This is because she probably thought she was doing her very best when actually she was doing her worst. The third will be Umar. For his first time appearance on screen after the ‘Spirited Actor’ reality show, I will say he took his lessons seriously. His first appearance and the many other scenes made me believe he was gay; looking careful at the way he walked and spoke. For the others, it was okay or manageable if I may say.

I will definitely not forget to mention the issue of product placement. As I said, ‘if the company isn’t sponsoring, do not advertise’. Many products ranging from phones, desktops, cars and the many others were placed without any kind of appreciation. Not to mention the fact that they were foreign, none of these companies can be said to have contributed either in cash or kind. We can surely advertise products, but ignoring those within is surely an insult to our local entrepreneurs.

I was impressed with the inclusion of French speaking characters like Jamal and Jasmine who made the movie entertaining with their continuous mixture of the languages (English and French), not forgetting the unnecessary insults (Was it to mean French speakers, especially those from Cameroun, like to insult?). For the photo shoot of Yvonne Nelson, I did not only hate the pictures but also the voice effects (noise) added to seem like someone talking to her (total nuisance). I may not have experienced the feel of traveling in a plane, but to deceive me by using sound effects of a commercial plane when actually it was a mini-plane, really felt insulting (Does the plane lack air hostesses or was it empty the entire journey?). When Jamal was welcomed home by Barrister Paula, she made mention of Cameroon, the hometown of Jamal that was never established (a simple room filled with French speakers does not establish their nationality). With the bedroom scene where Luckie and Sandra were discussing Freddie (Majid), the dialogue only belittled ladies or women in general. It described an African lady as a ‘whore’ (as Sandra said), desperate and unfaithful (as played by Luckie); and we blame the whites for the wrong representation of us, when our medium of communication sends that openly through our movies. The two scenes after kept me laughing; Odega perfectly took viewers out of their stress and misrepresentation (‘tu-a-l3’, ‘take am’ as he says) (Imagine one smelling like the mixture of camphor and incense…lol). The use of words like fuck, bitch, hell, damn and the likes was so rampant that I felt it was an American gangster movie than a Ghanaian (was the film censored?). For the stereotyped character of kids of Rich men being arrogant, it was over exaggerated with the act of the teenage girl ('my' driver would have slapped her in 'my' case). We may be welcoming this kind of attitude in our homes if we keep showing this kind of characters to our wards. What impressed me also was the work of the editor, especially the scoring of the music and numerous sound effects. The use of the ‘kukere’ beat to match up the singing of Odega was creatively sound. Another observation is the fact that we are slowly accepting gays into the community through our movies, and from the movie one may find it as a way of empowering gays to accept themselves for who they are by standing proud to tell their relations and later the world. For the introduction of Ice Prince, it was like an ad for some designers. Do we have a problem with our local names? Why the use of such foreign names in the film? If we are not proud of who we are, who will be?

From the office of the Ghana Cinema Review, we will give it a 5/10 general rating. I will recommend this movie for your relaxation; parental guidance is advised.