Title: LOVE LORN (1 & 2)
Starring: Tonto Dikeh, Rukky Sanda, Alex Usifo, Alexx Ekubo, Ikay Ogbonna
Synopsis:
A young woman living with a boyfriend that’s significantly older finally finds happiness in a man more her age. There’s just one problem…he’s her boyfriend’s bodyguard.
Review:
Nicki stayed in a relationship with Chief (Alex Usifo) for many years. He was old enough to be her father but she tolerated him for financial reasons. He seemed to love her but she went out of her way to be with Sean (Ikay Ogbonna).
Sean was the Chief’s new bodyguard and he was more her age and style. Although Nicki dropped flirtatious hints for him, he viewed her as the boss’ mistress and had no interest. Sean’s lack of attention intrigued Nicki and she showed up at his home uninvited and threw herself at him. He gave in to her advances and they later became an item.
Nicki and Sean fooled around behind the Chief’s back and stole private moments in his home whenever and wherever they could. The chief’s daughter later moved into the house and she somehow got wind of the affair and reported it to her father. Someone was certainly going to pay a high price for betraying the chief’s trust.
Let’s Talk. This story is about betrayal. In a nutshell, there wasn’t enough of a focus on Nicki’s relationship with the chief. He represented money in her life while she was his trophy. When Sean entered the picture, it’s not clear what the deep attraction for him was. Yes, he’s handsome but he wasn’t exactly charming and he exuded a flair of attitude but hey, to each his own.
When Nicki came on to Sean he seemed to go for it just because she was a free piece of a**. Afterward there were a slew of scenes where they became familiar with each other and the next thing we know they were in love.
Why couldn’t Nicki just break up with her boyfriend like a normal person? No, she had to keep up an affair with an employee. It’s not clear how the Chief’s daughter found out about the affair. I guess a little birdie told her.
Tonto Dikeh and Alexx Ekubo played Nicki’s friends. Although they played a happily married couple they had absolutely no storyline. Being Nicki’s soundboard was clearly their only purpose. Clearly, Tonto Dikeh’s popularity was used to market the movie.
In terms of acting, why on earth was Ikay Ogbonna wearing sunglasses in so many scenes? What was that about? How is the audience supposed to see his facial expressions or lack of them? With or without them his acting was one-dimensional and stiff.
As for Rukky Sanda, her desire to be an actress is certainly not about the art of the craft and Alex Usifo’s role just didn’t come together for me. The only decent performances came from Tonto Dikeh and Alexx Ekubo. They had small parts but I actually liked the rapport between them as a couple. Watching them was like a breath of fresh air amidst the two-hour fiasco.
As for technicalities, there were sound issues. There was an ongoing humming sound in some scenes and in others the music was too loud for the dialogue to be heard.
I came away from this movie asking myself “what was that?” A love story? A crime drama? What was that? Sigh… The screenplay was poorly written and the entire movie reeked of amateurism.
This production should have just been a private home movie and not be released to the public. There was no intrigue, no suspense, no humor, poor direction, meaningless dialogue, and bad acting. A hot mess. EJECT
- Rated: PG
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 2013
- Directed by: Rukky Sanda, Ikechukwu Nnaedue, Valantine Beid
- Starring: Tonto Dikeh, Rukky Sanda, Alexx Ekubo, Ikay Ogbonna, Venita Akpofure, Daniel Lloyd, Alex Usifo
- Written by: Rukky Sanda
- Studio: Rukky Sanda Studios
- Country: Nigeria