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Holding Hope
- Thread starter blackpearl
- Start date
lol
At bursting out & holding hope lagos premiere
T'was a super-star studded affair! We had stars from the music industry, film world, comedy scene .... suffice to say it was very well attended! Roll call read like a who is who in the ntertainment yellow pages. Genevieve Nnaji, Stella Damasus, Sammy Okposo, Monalisa Chinda, Zik Zulu Okafor, Susan Peters, Nadia Buari and Majid Michel flew in all the way from Ghana...and ofcourse the hosts, Emem Isong, Desmond Elliot and Uche Jombo.... the turn out was awesome with many having to be turned back!
Those that were opportuned to enter to see the movies, had to contend with others that were standing and many more sitting on the aisle! It was amazing! The event started with the Red Carpet event, interviews by press from both local and international TV stations. Cocktails and small chops were on hand for interested guests.Then at about 7pm the screening started and many were engulfed in the humorous chick flick that is Bursting Out. Immediately after, the screening of Holding Hope began. It was a heart wrenching, tear-jerker that left many in tears. Guests then left with their goodie bags.
culled from Nollywood Uncut
T'was a super-star studded affair! We had stars from the music industry, film world, comedy scene .... suffice to say it was very well attended! Roll call read like a who is who in the ntertainment yellow pages. Genevieve Nnaji, Stella Damasus, Sammy Okposo, Monalisa Chinda, Zik Zulu Okafor, Susan Peters, Nadia Buari and Majid Michel flew in all the way from Ghana...and ofcourse the hosts, Emem Isong, Desmond Elliot and Uche Jombo.... the turn out was awesome with many having to be turned back!
Those that were opportuned to enter to see the movies, had to contend with others that were standing and many more sitting on the aisle! It was amazing! The event started with the Red Carpet event, interviews by press from both local and international TV stations. Cocktails and small chops were on hand for interested guests.Then at about 7pm the screening started and many were engulfed in the humorous chick flick that is Bursting Out. Immediately after, the screening of Holding Hope began. It was a heart wrenching, tear-jerker that left many in tears. Guests then left with their goodie bags.
culled from Nollywood Uncut
Two films premiered-Bursting Out and Holding Hope
By Olushola Ojikutu
August 23, 2010 01:48PM
Two movies, ‘Holding Hope’ and ‘Bursting Out’ were premiered on August 8 at the Silverbird Cinemas, Victoria Island. The premieres recorded a large attendance of Nollywood actors, actresses and film makers, who came out to support the stars and producers of the movies.
‘Bursting Out’, starring Genevieve Nnaji and Ghanaian actor Majid Michael, was produced by Emem Isong and directed by Desmond Elliot and Daniel Ademinokan. Nnaji, caught for a brief interview on the red-carpet, gave NEXT a hint of what to expect from ‘Bursting Out’. “It is a lovely story with romance and suspense, a beautiful love story. You will see me in the same role I have often played - a woman looking for love.”
Uche Jombo expressed similar sentiments for ‘Holding Hope’, which she jointly produced with Isong and Elliot. “If I could cut my hair for one scene, then that should tell you how powerful the story is. Hope (the character she plays) has an inner strength that I admire. The movie is about faith, hope and about how we cannot change the things we cannot change.”
All Isong would say was: “‘Bursting Out’ is a fun kind of movie, while ‘Holding Hope’ is an intense [film] about cancer. Just come in and watch, I’m sure you will have a good time.”
Deja vu
However, the movies, sadly, proved to be not much better than the mean ‘Iweka Road’ offerings. We have all seen ‘Bursting Out’ before; we have seen it in every story where rich girl meets poor boy and has problems getting convinced that his ghetto background is good enough for her. We saw it more recently in ‘Silent Scandals’, by producer Vivian Ejike, which also stars Nnaji and Majid together.
Much as one may have tried to find something to recommend about the movie, one would be hard pressed to find any. I’ll settle instead for the easy camaraderie that was achieved between Zara (Nnaji), Ini (Omoni Oboli) and Tina (Nse Nkpe Etim). It is in scenes with the three of them that one derives some form of entertainment, as they satirise the Nigerian aso-ebi practice, “Burgundy dresses, Prada bags, Jimmy Choos, Gold gele”; and disparage Zara’s love interest Tyrone, a mail dispatcher, with lines such as: “This is so cute, you perched behind him (on his motorcycle) riding away to a honeymoon”, “if we knew he was buying, we could have gotten a cheaper restaurant so that at least he could buy water.”
My complaints are however many: the party scene was lacklustre, the audience knows that is not what a classy Nigerian party looks like; the big screen was not friendly to the movie, as some of the motion was blurry. As for the sets - come on, that office of Zara’s was so domestic it could have been a tabby cat; That ex-girlfriend did act quite well, but was she relevant to the plot? And if so, why was Tyrone suddenly rid of her? Finally, one might need someone to explain those black and white scenes as they obviously were not flashbacks.
Excruciating
Ending with Tyrone, striking it rich by getting admitted to a foreign football club; and his proposing to Zara after scoring a goal in a match at a Nigerian stadium, ‘Bursting Out’ could have been better. While, however, ‘Bursting Out’ was un-original and uninspiring, ‘Holding Hope’ with its cancer theme was quite frankly excruciating (and not just for its terminal cancer sufferers). By the time the movie was halfway, the cinema hall had been cleared of half of the viewers who had struggled to get in.
Holding Hope tells the story of Olumide (Desmond Elliot), a rich irresponsible spendthrift, who though set to inherit a thriving business from his mother, does not possess the acumen to keep it so. His mother recognising his limitations, brings Hope (a lady we guess she met through her cancer support society) forward to manage the financial affairs of the company. The mother does not hide her hopes that Olumide and Hope will end up together. And she gets her wish after she declares that she is dying of cancer.
We think Hope and Olumide might sail to blissful matrimony or that in the course of the movie, we will find that the marriage is a sham; but the movie denies us such meaningful conclusions. It exasperates us instead with several contradictions: Olumide’s girlfriend (Nadia Buari) apparently thinking he married Hope to secure his inheritance, approaches him after his mother’s burial, only to be told that he’s in love with his wife - a wife whom he begins to mistreat immediately after his mother’s will requires that there be no divorce between them.
So much does Olumide abuse Hope that we see her as an epitome of the saint stereotype. Emem herself had at a recent film forum described a ‘Nollywood saint’ as: a person who is continually maltreated by a boyfriend or a husband but who fails to take any constructive action regarding the problem. Hope bears for a full hour the many injustices her husband deems to throw at her - verbal, physical and emotional; and then moans tearfully, “I heard you, you said you loved me; you said the sun and the moon slept at my feet”.
After a number of scenes the audience begins to have a hard time making sense of the movie - In one scene Hope is chocking on her own blood, in the next she is drowning in a pool then is quickly rescued by her husband, who incidentally, is again suddenly in love with her. Finally, one day she declares, “I am dying, I have leukemia, by which time the audience thinks: come on, not everyone involved in supporting cancer research falls ill with the disease!
Perhaps the only redeeming factor of the movie is that we are offered no religious placebos, a road often easily taken in other Nigerian films. The delivery of the actors can also not be faulted, especially Buari’s.
However, the sequence of scenes need to be re-examined before the movie makes a cinema run. The length also is unnecessary, and the pace too slow - especially after Hope’s diagnosis. Conclusion: A passable home video (for those who enjoy a healthy dose of human misery); but certainly not one worthy of the big screen.
Two films and a premiere
By Olushola Ojikutu
August 23, 2010 01:48PM
Holding Hope and Bursting Out
Two movies, ‘Holding Hope’ and ‘Bursting Out’ were premiered on August 8 at the Silverbird Cinemas, Victoria Island. The premieres recorded a large attendance of Nollywood actors, actresses and film makers, who came out to support the stars and producers of the movies.
‘Bursting Out’, starring Genevieve Nnaji and Ghanaian actor Majid Michael, was produced by Emem Isong and directed by Desmond Elliot and Daniel Ademinokan. Nnaji, caught for a brief interview on the red-carpet, gave NEXT a hint of what to expect from ‘Bursting Out’. “It is a lovely story with romance and suspense, a beautiful love story. You will see me in the same role I have often played - a woman looking for love.”
Uche Jombo expressed similar sentiments for ‘Holding Hope’, which she jointly produced with Isong and Elliot. “If I could cut my hair for one scene, then that should tell you how powerful the story is. Hope (the character she plays) has an inner strength that I admire. The movie is about faith, hope and about how we cannot change the things we cannot change.”
All Isong would say was: “‘Bursting Out’ is a fun kind of movie, while ‘Holding Hope’ is an intense [film] about cancer. Just come in and watch, I’m sure you will have a good time.”
Deja vu
However, the movies, sadly, proved to be not much better than the mean ‘Iweka Road’ offerings. We have all seen ‘Bursting Out’ before; we have seen it in every story where rich girl meets poor boy and has problems getting convinced that his ghetto background is good enough for her. We saw it more recently in ‘Silent Scandals’, by producer Vivian Ejike, which also stars Nnaji and Majid together.
Much as one may have tried to find something to recommend about the movie, one would be hard pressed to find any. I’ll settle instead for the easy camaraderie that was achieved between Zara (Nnaji), Ini (Omoni Oboli) and Tina (Nse Nkpe Etim). It is in scenes with the three of them that one derives some form of entertainment, as they satirise the Nigerian aso-ebi practice, “Burgundy dresses, Prada bags, Jimmy Choos, Gold gele”; and disparage Zara’s love interest Tyrone, a mail dispatcher, with lines such as: “This is so cute, you perched behind him (on his motorcycle) riding away to a honeymoon”, “if we knew he was buying, we could have gotten a cheaper restaurant so that at least he could buy water.”
My complaints are however many: the party scene was lacklustre, the audience knows that is not what a classy Nigerian party looks like; the big screen was not friendly to the movie, as some of the motion was blurry. As for the sets - come on, that office of Zara’s was so domestic it could have been a tabby cat; That ex-girlfriend did act quite well, but was she relevant to the plot? And if so, why was Tyrone suddenly rid of her? Finally, one might need someone to explain those black and white scenes as they obviously were not flashbacks.
Excruciating
Ending with Tyrone, striking it rich by getting admitted to a foreign football club; and his proposing to Zara after scoring a goal in a match at a Nigerian stadium, ‘Bursting Out’ could have been better. While, however, ‘Bursting Out’ was un-original and uninspiring, ‘Holding Hope’ with its cancer theme was quite frankly excruciating (and not just for its terminal cancer sufferers). By the time the movie was halfway, the cinema hall had been cleared of half of the viewers who had struggled to get in.
Holding Hope tells the story of Olumide (Desmond Elliot), a rich irresponsible spendthrift, who though set to inherit a thriving business from his mother, does not possess the acumen to keep it so. His mother recognising his limitations, brings Hope (a lady we guess she met through her cancer support society) forward to manage the financial affairs of the company. The mother does not hide her hopes that Olumide and Hope will end up together. And she gets her wish after she declares that she is dying of cancer.
We think Hope and Olumide might sail to blissful matrimony or that in the course of the movie, we will find that the marriage is a sham; but the movie denies us such meaningful conclusions. It exasperates us instead with several contradictions: Olumide’s girlfriend (Nadia Buari) apparently thinking he married Hope to secure his inheritance, approaches him after his mother’s burial, only to be told that he’s in love with his wife - a wife whom he begins to mistreat immediately after his mother’s will requires that there be no divorce between them.
So much does Olumide abuse Hope that we see her as an epitome of the saint stereotype. Emem herself had at a recent film forum described a ‘Nollywood saint’ as: a person who is continually maltreated by a boyfriend or a husband but who fails to take any constructive action regarding the problem. Hope bears for a full hour the many injustices her husband deems to throw at her - verbal, physical and emotional; and then moans tearfully, “I heard you, you said you loved me; you said the sun and the moon slept at my feet”.
After a number of scenes the audience begins to have a hard time making sense of the movie - In one scene Hope is chocking on her own blood, in the next she is drowning in a pool then is quickly rescued by her husband, who incidentally, is again suddenly in love with her. Finally, one day she declares, “I am dying, I have leukemia, by which time the audience thinks: come on, not everyone involved in supporting cancer research falls ill with the disease!
Perhaps the only redeeming factor of the movie is that we are offered no religious placebos, a road often easily taken in other Nigerian films. The delivery of the actors can also not be faulted, especially Buari’s.
However, the sequence of scenes need to be re-examined before the movie makes a cinema run. The length also is unnecessary, and the pace too slow - especially after Hope’s diagnosis. Conclusion: A passable home video (for those who enjoy a healthy dose of human misery); but certainly not one worthy of the big screen.
Two films and a premiere
some response from bloggers
Posted by Kiki on Aug 23 2010
I saw bursting out and I absolutely loved it. I could perfectly identify with Zara, the 35 year old unmarried woman in Nigeria. Her problems seemed just like mine and I was glad to see that love won in the end. The reviewer sounds bitter and shallow and almost stupid. Love stories are never new, not in M&B's, not in Bollywood, not in Hollywood. It's all a cinderella story retold in many diferent ways. The acting was superb and the dialogue lovely which is what Emem's films are known for. So Mr. reveiwer while you have a right to your reviewer, you may also want to get yourself a little education.
Posted by Fred Alabi on Aug 23 2010
@ Cheta, why were you not reviewing and commenting on Hollywood films? Because you are simply too shallow and intimated by them to do so. Na when una see Nigerian film, all of una go get mouth. If you were so good, you wouldn't have lost your job abroad and run back home where next pitied you and gave you a job where you write mediocre articles. Ije came and you had something nasty to say, now you dare to call Emem mediocre. When they wrote with candles and struggled through nothing to make Nollywood what it is now and place Nigeria on the map, you were busy scrubbing toilets abroad, now there are opportunities in Nigeria created by these people, you dare to come home and insult the people who made it possible for you to return home in the first place.
Posted by Ada on Aug 23 2010
First things first, who is the writer of this article? At least the person should have the courtesy to let us know who he/she is Secondly, I want to believe that this your opinion of the movies especially BURSTING OUT is strictly yours and yours alone because I happened to be at the premiere and you failed to mention that this same audience you claim were leaving the cinema during HOLDING HOPE were screaming their lungs out during BURSTING OUT. So please on what platform are you basing this
Posted by Kiki on Aug 23 2010
I saw bursting out and I absolutely loved it. I could perfectly identify with Zara, the 35 year old unmarried woman in Nigeria. Her problems seemed just like mine and I was glad to see that love won in the end. The reviewer sounds bitter and shallow and almost stupid. Love stories are never new, not in M&B's, not in Bollywood, not in Hollywood. It's all a cinderella story retold in many diferent ways. The acting was superb and the dialogue lovely which is what Emem's films are known for. So Mr. reveiwer while you have a right to your reviewer, you may also want to get yourself a little education.
Posted by Fred Alabi on Aug 23 2010
@ Cheta, why were you not reviewing and commenting on Hollywood films? Because you are simply too shallow and intimated by them to do so. Na when una see Nigerian film, all of una go get mouth. If you were so good, you wouldn't have lost your job abroad and run back home where next pitied you and gave you a job where you write mediocre articles. Ije came and you had something nasty to say, now you dare to call Emem mediocre. When they wrote with candles and struggled through nothing to make Nollywood what it is now and place Nigeria on the map, you were busy scrubbing toilets abroad, now there are opportunities in Nigeria created by these people, you dare to come home and insult the people who made it possible for you to return home in the first place.
Posted by Ada on Aug 23 2010
First things first, who is the writer of this article? At least the person should have the courtesy to let us know who he/she is Secondly, I want to believe that this your opinion of the movies especially BURSTING OUT is strictly yours and yours alone because I happened to be at the premiere and you failed to mention that this same audience you claim were leaving the cinema during HOLDING HOPE were screaming their lungs out during BURSTING OUT. So please on what platform are you basing this
i have not seen the movies, but I am afraid I will feel the same way as the writer having followed Emem Isongs style of writing for years now. and with Desmond as lead. wahala dey!! over emotional drab stories that make one so tired. You can't excuse your bad writing with overloading us with these sob stories and characters!! sad sad sad so we can have sympathy and think the movie is good? we've been there and have returned from that journey.
he scores a goal and proposes? classic. I can see Majid panting and saying his lines like some cartoon prompted.
the bar has been raised!! una join the club.
he scores a goal and proposes? classic. I can see Majid panting and saying his lines like some cartoon prompted.
the bar has been raised!! una join the club.
I Sing Of A Well is about a young girl (played by fourty years old Akofa :roll) given out to marriage to a man old enough to father her..... Thats emotional!!.....
Sinking Sands is about a young woman whose marriage sink in sands when her husband begins to abuse her..... Thats emotional too!!!....
Tulips is about a young traumatized girl who fled from her village after she witnessed her parents death..... Thats emotional again!!!!.....
When you say emotional drab stories, say it with silence cause your idol is the mistress of such movies..... Even Grass Between Your Lips is another emotional story so remove the peck in your eyes before you remove that in another man's eyes.....
One thing I guarantee you is that Emem whether or not you like movies, has an audience she satisfies...... Let those who say they're filmmakers get theirs..... Shekina!!!
Sinking Sands is about a young woman whose marriage sink in sands when her husband begins to abuse her..... Thats emotional too!!!....
Tulips is about a young traumatized girl who fled from her village after she witnessed her parents death..... Thats emotional again!!!!.....
When you say emotional drab stories, say it with silence cause your idol is the mistress of such movies..... Even Grass Between Your Lips is another emotional story so remove the peck in your eyes before you remove that in another man's eyes.....
One thing I guarantee you is that Emem whether or not you like movies, has an audience she satisfies...... Let those who say they're filmmakers get theirs..... Shekina!!!
everyday you display your ignorance to a high level!!
which movie is not emotional? slumdog millionaire is the most emotional. children struggling, getting their eyes gorged out.
Its about presentation. Emem and another writer can present the same story, Emem will beat you over the head with the emotion, force the story to happen. a good writer will allow you travel with the character and let him make choices.
You can go ahead and follow people who beat you over the head with forced tragedies which are not character driven.
you want to talk about I sing of a well? It was character driven. no matter how old the actress was. the intelligent writer built the character to make choices. each character had the chance to make a choice. the story was not poured over your head. the same applies to Grass between my lips. none of them had 100 people all dying from cancer in one movie. none of them have melodrama! or on the nose dialogue with philosophical undertones.
you cannot pull ms. Djansi down. you people should have figured that out by now. I am beyond convinced sinking sands will be a thriller. God is ever protecting her.
which movie is not emotional? slumdog millionaire is the most emotional. children struggling, getting their eyes gorged out.
Its about presentation. Emem and another writer can present the same story, Emem will beat you over the head with the emotion, force the story to happen. a good writer will allow you travel with the character and let him make choices.
You can go ahead and follow people who beat you over the head with forced tragedies which are not character driven.
you want to talk about I sing of a well? It was character driven. no matter how old the actress was. the intelligent writer built the character to make choices. each character had the chance to make a choice. the story was not poured over your head. the same applies to Grass between my lips. none of them had 100 people all dying from cancer in one movie. none of them have melodrama! or on the nose dialogue with philosophical undertones.
you cannot pull ms. Djansi down. you people should have figured that out by now. I am beyond convinced sinking sands will be a thriller. God is ever protecting her.
Angela I feel u my sis. Love Emem to bits (and she's better than the rest of the pack) but the melodrama and overacting and drawn out scenes are often cringe worthy!!!
I wish she'd have a really good editor for her movies and a script that 'talks' less cos some subtleties get over played. I'll pass on Holding Hope but will see Bursting Out for my Gene and the other ladies...their dialogue is sure to be great fun!
I wish Emem would get a director like Izu Ojukwu( Cindy's Notes, White Waters, Sitanda, Shut in etc). Whatever happened to Amaka Igwe, Ego Boyo, Tunde Kelani??? He's still my best Naija movie maker. Still to see Ije....
I still think we need to hook up with some Bollywood directors/filmakers (Parineeta, Lagaan!!!) for proper movie lessons. I want to screen Naiaj movies in Canada but NO movie has passed the quality test yet-Short and sweet, Great picture, sound, well developed story, sharp dialogues and VERY engaging!!!
I wish she'd have a really good editor for her movies and a script that 'talks' less cos some subtleties get over played. I'll pass on Holding Hope but will see Bursting Out for my Gene and the other ladies...their dialogue is sure to be great fun!
I wish Emem would get a director like Izu Ojukwu( Cindy's Notes, White Waters, Sitanda, Shut in etc). Whatever happened to Amaka Igwe, Ego Boyo, Tunde Kelani??? He's still my best Naija movie maker. Still to see Ije....
I still think we need to hook up with some Bollywood directors/filmakers (Parineeta, Lagaan!!!) for proper movie lessons. I want to screen Naiaj movies in Canada but NO movie has passed the quality test yet-Short and sweet, Great picture, sound, well developed story, sharp dialogues and VERY engaging!!!
to help your cause. I sing of a well is NOT about a young girl. It was supposed to have been, but the story was changed. I sing of a well is about a prince who seeks to marry a WOMAN who is waiting for her peasant lover to raise enough dowry to marry her. she is the first of 5 girls who all have married!! when you watch the movie, then come back and talk.
I am surprised you still have no fear of shame. lol