REVIEW OF KOBI RANA’S HAPPY DEATHDAY

Director: Kobi Rana

Production House: ABC Pictures

Story: Kobi Rana

Screenplay: Kobi Rana

D.O.P: Kenneth Yeboah

Gaffer/Lights: Samuel Gandoh

Soundman: Richard Tettey

Production Manager: Justice Abadah

Production Assistant: Isaac Okantey

Editor/Graphics: Enoch Obiri Opoku

Music Scoring: Kobi Rana & GMK

Producer: Kafui Danku

Executive Producer: Kafui Danku

CAST

Kafui Danku  -as- Asantewaa

Alex Ekubo  -as- Omar

Elikem Kumodji -as- Dela

James Gardiner -as- Yaw

Toosweet Annan -as- Kofi

Ben Brako -as- Vice President

SYNOPSIS

It’s the 25^th birthday of the vice-president’s son, Omar (Alex Ekubo). To make this a memorable day in his life, his girlfriend, Asantewaa (Kafui Danku), and close friends – Yaw (James Gardiner), Kofi (Toosweet Annan) and Dela (Elikem Kumodji),  decide to pull off a surprise party for him.

As part of their plan, they carry him to his pool and throw him in. Even though he lives in a luxurious house with a swimming pool, it came as a surprise to his friends when he confessed that he did not know how to swim. Thinking he was joking, they look on as he drowns. Coming to their senses to rescue him, he passes away. Knowing very well of the consequences at hand, they device many ways of getting rid of him after the doctor declared him unconscious. After further deliberation on the thought of throwing him in the sea, they finally decide to show him some respect by burying him.

To bury all possible traces of evidence which may lead to their arrest, Kofi’s sister and Dela end up dying. Omar is able to make it out of the coffin miraculously after waking up from the coma and that causes Kofi to go mad, James to faint and his beautiful Asantewaa to commit suicide.

REVIEW BY FRANK DAGADU

From the very beginning of the film, one will surely say it’s an adaptation or has a resemblance to the ‘Final Destination’ franchise. Even though several plots were made from the point of view of others, the whole story is supposedly centered on the main character, thus Omar, who was actually having a premonition of the events to happen on his birth/death day; almost like what the final destination franchise has shown us over the years. With such high expectations for the film after a powerful hook at the beginning, one will agree with me that some plots only made the story drag and boring to watch.

Kobi Rana for some time now has been known for his ability to hook his audience with his very first scene, then finally kills your high hopes by dragging the story and giving you some flimsy ending; and this piece is no exception. This I can say boldly in comparison with Hotel Babylon. With such intellectual and thought provoking opening scene, one will expect Kobi to surprise his audience with a unique and memorable ending but the opposite always happens. It was almost like watching one particular scene being repeated several times.

I must confess I was really tortured by the ending of this movie. I do admire your love for animation but the truth is, this isn’t a happy ending animation where the squid happily dances with the tortoise to reveal the very actors who played each character. It was surely fun to watch but doesn’t fit such a genre; unless this is supposed to be a dramedy – drama & comedy. If you want to do something memorable, always consider the structure of your story.

Comparing Elikem’s performance in this film to that of ‘Prince of Tamale’, I will have to commend him on such superb performance throughout the film. I will say he has noticed his shortcomings and has polished his act. I only hope he doesn’t join the long list of actors who are best known for their abilities to act angry mostly. He may need more polishing to be at the top of his game but comparing him to the other cast, he was the best.

Nana Ama McBrown on the other hand is one lady I have admired over the years for her diversity – both in acting and her ability to act in ‘Kumawood’ and ‘Glamour Films (Accra Films)’. For the few scenes she was present in, she gave an exceptional performance. The scene I loved the most was when she was being chased by Elikem for spying on them. Even though she was in a baggy jean short and shirt, she was running like someone in a jogging suit. Thumbs up Madam Versatile!

The minor appearances the musicians make in the films they feature in tend to be a platform for them to overshadow some of these so called talented actors. And one artist who has decided to join the list is Stonebwoy. Even though his role was more of a marketing platform for his ‘Bhim Nation’ label, he as well did his best to put himself in the character he played. I must say his performance was above average. It wouldn’t be of much surprise to me if I should see him feature in a Jamaican flick soon.

Kobi Rana’s performance as a mad man was fun to watch but unnecessary to the story plot. It did not add and wouldn’t have subtracted anything if it hadn’t been added. He may be part of the short list of Ghanaian directors who not only direct but feature in their films; I must say his performance in most of his flicks seem to be the best compared to the other directors who end up exaggerating their roles. I sometimes wonder if their assistant directors have a say in their act. (If they do have assistants)

I will personally rate this 55.5%.

REVIEW BY YAW AYABEKE

This film is another example of good writing but poor direction in the overall progression of the story. It started out with a strong technique but gradually declined in the execution. I am furious with the director for not laying the proper foundation for this film. At a point it was almost like they lacked shots so the editor had to repeat shots from the dream sequence and again in the supposed reality the film provided which left me wondering, which is which?  The film tried to provide complexity but ended up ignoring the art of simplicity in storytelling; calling on unnecessary camera angles over and over just to show off some fancy equipment.

If you ask me if this film touched me with its writing I will definitely agree with that but I think this film did a better job of advising writers and directors everywhere on what not to do. I in my infinite mercy would have titled this film “HAPPY CAUTIONARY TALE”. The director ignored an obvious ending which would have set this film apart from the rest and ignored his directing instincts so they could do some fancy cast dance scene which would be fine if it was achieved perfectly.

I really appreciated the cast, the cues were on point and I want to give a special thank you to Elikem for his performance; it takes a really special actor to take the tragedy out of a death scene which when watching this film I whispered to myself “it’s about time”. For me, the direction of this film had nothing to do with the actors which is a surprise. I also want to recognize the presence of Kafui, she in my opinion did splendidly as a producer providing finance for equipment to distract the director from doing his job properly but I guess it’s not all his fault it’s not every day you get the chance to use a drone so I thank you and say nice try but we noticed.

The point of having a good collection of shots of different angles and sizes is so that the editor has a lot to work with so the story does not seem flat but I think the cinematographer missed the memo so instead they brought in a wildlife photographer because that’s the only explanation I can take for the lack of creativity in the shots because a lot of the scenes lacked personality. I also need to commend the editor for his fine job but to be fair I think it takes a really special editor to work with what is given even if I guess you’re not yet in that class of editors so to you I say “EAT, PRAY AND GO BACK TO YOUR BASICS”.

I commend this film on its overall work but I know it could have reached better heights if only the technicality it wanted to achieve was not dragged down by the lazy camera work and obvious dialogue which inspired a flash back that only revealed that Alex Ekubo should get better friends and probably a better technical team. So I employ you pick up your wallets or bags drive down to the cinema with a bag of cement in hand sit down and pay more attention to your popcorn and then wonder afterwards why you did not just invest your 30 ghc into a housing project.

It gets a 60 out of 100.