"THE TENANT" IS A MOVIE MADE BY TWO NIGERIANS FROM UI AND UNIBEN; IT WAS SHOT IN CANADA AND NIGERIA AND TAKES NIGERIAN MOVIEMAKING TO ANOTHER LEVEL, NIGERIA IS GOING PLACES; CLICK AND WATCH THE TRAILER

http://www.viewnaija.com/video-2862.html

Wooow!! , this is an incredible movie , yes o! Nigeria is on the match again! , but I hope they won't ban it from showing in Nigeria , that SEX scene was wicked , that NAKED GURL GRINDING ON THAT GUY ON THE BED is tooo much for Nigeria ooooo! , but men big up to these guys , this is how Nigerian movies should be.

Synopsis;

Obinna; an African refugee in Canada has thirty days to leave the country or face deportation. Timothy his terminally ill white landlord makes him a proposition; if Obinna can get his estranged daughter to make peace with him before he dies, then he will by virtue of his being a former immigration officer, intervene in his deportation. As the clock ticks away, Obinna has to do the impossible to find Timothy's daughter and convince her to return home. In less than 30 days, he has to turn the wheels of hate to one of love.

Wow! It looks very well produced . . . the acting is a little on the slow side but still okay.

HOWEVER

Of all the things that could have used as the inciting event, they used deportation?!!!

Haba now, it kind of looks ridiculous that he's going through this wahala just to avoid deportation. Will he be in danger if he returns home. . . say his father was a govt opposition leader, who was killed by top officials but before he died, he told his son things that could potentially ruin these men and now they want him dead. . . something like that? God! I hope so oh.

Let's even assume that storyline is too complicated, how about something like. . .

His child was kidnapped by militants who want him to do something for them within 30 days.
His Beloved Mom, who sacrificed everything for him, needs an organ transplant and he's got 30 days to sort himself out.


. . . Any thing but this ordinary deportation story. The landlord seems to have a more legit reason for his action than the protagonist. NOT GOOD!

We need to feel for him, empathize with him and the only way to do that is to understand his desires.  I don't know how many people will identify with this, just talking to a couple of my friends here and the reaction is "Okay. . . What is the biggie? He can go somewhere else"

I'm still quite impressed with the look of it. Where are the people saying Naijas don't got it, eh? Oh wait. . . I am one of them

Hey Sisikill , na wa for u o , u obviously have not heard of people trekking through sahara desert to get out of Naija and enter yankee or europe , or of the thousands of people who drown each year while crossing the medittarean sea on dingy boats in their bid to get into Europe , have you heard about the folks who stay in the wheel carriage of planes and die frozen to death upon arrival in europe or america , these people sell all they own in order for them to travel , they borrow , some steal , they make sacrifices , so incase you didnt know , not every one needs to have political intimidation or medical problems for them to fear returning back to Nigeria , to some folks the idea of deportation is enough to kill them ,

So you obviously must be one of them rich Nigerians who do not understand what the common man is going through.

And by the way , you say the acting is SLOOOW , lol , you must be a disciple of Nollywood's OVERACTING , to me, the acting is REAL!

But let me dont sound like Im shooting you down , just wanted to clear your eyes to the suffering of the man next to you , not everyone is living in paradise like you obviously are ,

And you must be like a professional critic or something , INCITING EVENT , nice one , have you heard of the people who commit suicide because their lover left them , is that an INCITING EVENT OR NOT

Go figure!

The movie is very very impressive. I know the Nigerian movie industry will someday rise on top.

HOWEVER

Of all the things that could have used as the inciting event, they used deportation?!!!

Haba now, it kind of looks ridiculous that he's going through this wahala just to avoid deportation. Will he be in danger if he returns home. . . say his father was a govt opposition leader, who was killed by top officials but before he died, he told his son things that could potentially ruin these men and now they want him dead. . . something like that? God! I hope so oh.

Let's even assume that storyline is too complicated, how about something like. . .

His child was kidnapped by militants who want him to do something for them within 30 days.
His Beloved Mom, who sacrificed everything for him, needs an organ transplant and he's got 30 days to sort himself out.

What do you mean? It's just a fiction besides, lots of Nigerians go through deportation wahala around the world. Why sugar coat it? I don't know when we Nigerians will cultivate the habit of encouraging people that try to do something positive without looking for a way to bad mouth it. Your suggestions are tired stories but that doesn't mean you can't make a good movie out of it. If you feel the story is lame, why not develop the ones you suggested?

abi o

I'll pick Nkem Owoh and Patience Ozokwor anyday anyway.
I can see movies like the above anywhere.
Nothing beats raw Nigerian comedy and drama

Hey Queenisha , i love the raw comedy too , but if we are going to make lots of money and take nollywood to the next level , like bollywood has done , we have to create a real film industry , we cant have a country that has film cinemas and only american movies are shown in it , we just have a home video industry in which 70% of it is pirated , there must be a way to improve the industry technical wise and acting wise , all our movies cant be comedies even if they were intended to be tragedies , I know we will reach there one day , when a nigerian will win an oscar , just like the south africans did with tsotsi , but with all our present nollywood home videos , no way Jose , but we have tried sha making our home videos very popular , but we can keep the realness of our acting but make it cinematically superb , check out "City of God" from Brazil, they will make it real and still make it beautiful to see , that is what naija should do , big up Naija!!

The movie looks good compared to every Nigerian movie out there, but lets face it, it's nothing special. It pales in comparison to world class movies and if the producers ever take this to any movie festival, it will be panned by international critics.

Why am I not with it?

The major character is an over-actor, something in the vein of Stallone. We all know that actor that screams and changes his voice up wayy tooo muchh. His facial expressions are also not so natural.

If you ask me, the story line is too cliche. Another story about an African thats facing deportation, sprinkled with erotic scenes involving white girls. Creativity much?

I know I'm about to get labeled as a player-hater, but this is just my own point of view.

Haba  - N- gauge ,  u haven't watched the movie yet ,  so don't pan it ,  wait till it comes out ,  shekena!

By the way, mkarera , where can we see this movie? , is it coming out in the theaters or dvd , and the guys who made it , how can we get in touch with them , Im loving it!

jameela:


Hey Sisikill , na wa for u o , u obviously have not heard of people trekking through sahara desert to get out of Naija and enter yankee or europe , or of the thousands of people who drown each year while crossing the medittarean sea on dingy boats in their bid to get into Europe , have you heard about the folks who stay in the wheel carriage of planes and die frozen to death upon arrival in europe or america , these people sell all they own in order for them to travel , they borrow , some steal , they make sacrifices , so incase you didnt know , not every one needs to have political intimidation or medical problems for them to fear returning back to Nigeria , to some folks the idea of deportation is enough to kill them

So you obviously must be one of them rich Nigerians who do not understand what the common man is going through.

And by the way , you say the acting is SLOOOW , lol , you must be a disciple of Nollywood's OVERACTING , to me, the acting is REAL!

But let me don't sound like I'm shooting you down , just wanted to clear your eyes to the suffering of the man next to you , not everyone is living in paradise like you obviously are ,

And you must be like a professional critic or something , INCITING EVENT , nice one , have you heard of the people who commit suicide because their lover left them , is that an INCITING EVENT OR NOT

Go figure!

Well. . . pardon me, I stand corrected! I apologize for not being up to date on the plight of the suffering masses. I just find it hard to believe people still suffer like that in this day an age. It’s just so. . . so incomprehensible. Goodness! I guess I need to get out of my ivory tower once in a while coz it seems I have completely lost touch with the little people and how they live. Say. . . do all the homes out there have heli-pads on the roof or should I just come with the Jaguar?

LOL, okay now that we've gotten my "snobbery" out of the way. . . which I'm actually glad you brought up because it is exactly why I think the deportation angle in this movie was weak, let me explain. . . First off, I think this movie was done very, very well, matter of fact I'm keeping my fingers, toes and everything crossable part of me crossed that it reaches a wider audience and by wider audience, some of whom might not really understand the big deal over deportation and it's not because they are living in paradise, it's not because they have lost touch with the little people. They simply don't get it because they aren't Nigerians.

Please, please, please don't get me wrong, I am not saying deportation should never be used, I am saying in this particular case, for this movie it was weak. Of course there are movies out there about Deportation and what people will do to avoid it. Green Card. . . an Andie Mcdowell movie is one of them. This movie compensated for its non-universal theme (fear of deportation) with a more universal one (Love), not just that, the desires of the central characters (even though it was silly on the woman's part, she married him so she could live in a better apartment) were FRONT and CENTER. It wasn't overshadowed by the desires of a secondary character.

To me the landlord had a more pressing desire than the Obinna. Put side by side - Finding and making peace with his daughter daughter before He dies vs. Obinna trying not to get deported in 30 days, the former wins hands down. Just from the preview, I find myself wishing Obinna would hurry up with the daughter finding mission not because I wanted Obinna to avoid deportation, nope. . . me sitting on the edge of the chair, biting my fingers and sweating profusely was because I wanted the landlord to get his wish. (The sweating, edge sitting and nail biting is what we're expected to feel, no?). We shouldn't be rooting for anyone other than the main person and even if we do, it should be secondary to the Protagonist. Except of course I read wrong and the landlord is the main guy, then the movie is perfect as it is. Perception (through visual cues) also plays an important key here, we have a fit-able bodied young man vs. an old, frail looking terminally ill man. . . compared to Obinna, the landlord generates more sympathy.

Stripped down to the core, what we have here is Race Against Natural Laws (death) vs Race against Man Laws(deportation). It goes without saying that nature wins hands down. . . it always does. This is the angle I'm coming from, not the one you interpreted.

LOL, you think Nigerian movies are fast paced acting-wise. . . You are kidding right? When I said the acting was a bit on the slow side, I meant it looked more like theater acting. I didn’t mean over-acting like Jim Iyke would do, stretching every moveable muscle in his face just to say “Wassup”

Committing Suicide because of love. . . a bit cliché but Love & Heartbreak are emotions EVERYBODY can identify with, so I guess it is an excellent inciting event.

Let me reiterate, other than what I thought was a weak storyline, I think this movie was well produced and I applaud the makers. Honestly, I’ll give an arm and a leg to meet them just to say “Well done and thank you for showing it can be done”.

Finally, critiquing isn’t hating or bad-mouthing. We do it all the time for American movies (just take a look at the threads on this section), so why can’t we do it for our Nigerian movies without getting lambasted for being unpatriotic?

DeepZone:


What do you mean? It's just a fiction besides, lots of Nigerians go through deportation wahala around the world. Why sugar coat it? I don't know when we Nigerians will cultivate the habit of encouraging people that try to do something positive without looking for a way to bad mouth it. Your suggestions are tired stories but that doesn't mean you can't make a good movie out of it. If you feel the story is lame, why not develop the ones you suggested?

You know, I made myself a promise not to respond to you anymore. Apart from you never make any sense, you also seem to have a comprehension problem. . . which I guess explains why you never make any sense.

So Aunty wa, answer this for me. . . If Nigerians go through deportation and it is something you think shouldn't be sugar-coated that would mean deportation isn't fiction, won't it? Do you see what I mean about you never making sense? Gawd! You say something and then counter it in the same breath.

Bad Mouth? The day I incite hate against other people with my words is the day you can say I bad mouth. Until then, you my dear are alone in your little Bad Mouthing world.


Jameela. . . please, please, abeg you, don’t be insulted I responded to this person in the same post directed to you.

Thanks.

Hey Sisikill , I read your well written rejoinder , you are definitely scholarly (Ivory tower) , I respect your well of knowledge and agree with you to a large extent , I hope that when we all get to see the movie there will be more than the trailer shows , as in more subplots etc

I join you in congratulating the brothers who made this happen , it just makes me proud to be a Nigerian , we are definitely on the match again.

The african tiger is rising , the world should be on the watch!

I never knew that University of Ibadan and University of Benin offers courses in film making , so why have we continually produced quacks making films in Nigeria, if a Nigerian university produced the guys who made this movie?

mkarera , still waiting for the info I asked for? , where will it show and how can we get in touch with the producers? , holla at a proud sista now!

Hey mkarera , don't you follow up on ur posts? , where do we get to watch this movie? , let me know

Ti Oluwa Nile

any nigerian movie with whites/ white people is a no no for me! just sucks!

lol , why do you guys say you dont like Nigerian movies with whites in them , is that rascism or is it that in Nigeria there are no white people? , I thought a movie is more for the storyline and the level of acting , u will prefer to watch a movie with all Nigerians in it, that is badly shot, written, acted and produced instead of a movie made by Nigerians, with a Nigerian theme, good acting, good script, good producing, good directing , well it beats me, don't really know what to say , sometimes I am forced to believe that Nollywood is crap because of the Nigerians who watch the home movies that comes out of it , they dont expect anything good, so the producers give them rubbish , well mkarera for us who know what is good and who want nollywood to step up their game , please how can we get in touch with this guys or where can we see the movie?

jaquan:

any nigerian movie with whites/ white people is a no no for me! just sucks!

WHY? Bad acting?

n-guage:

The movie looks good compared to every Nigerian movie out there, but lets face it, it's nothing special. It pales in comparison to world class movies and if the producers ever take this to any movie festival, it will be panned by international critics.

Why am I not with it?

The major character is an over-actor, something in the vein of Stallone. We all know that actor that screams and changes his voice up wayy tooo muchh. His facial expressions are also not so natural.

If you ask me, the story line is too cliche. Another story about an African thats facing deportation, sprinkled with erotic scenes involving white girls. Creativity much?

I know I'm about to get labeled as a player-hater, but this is just my own point of view.

Player-Hater

But colour me impressed with that trailer. Whatever you guys have to say. The quality of filming was definitely a step above the thousands of Naija movies out there.
We're getting there, slowly but surely.
Jete Amata's "Amazing Grace" show this (although I thought it was slightly boring and a bit too long, it was a very very good effort)
And I'm also in love with that "Mama Put" short film thay've been showing on M-Net.

Colour , thank you my brother , atleast lets call a spade a spade , lets call mallam pant mallam pant , the producers tried , chikena , I havent seen the mamaput short film though , I will look out for it.

sigh, why does he have to be with a white woman. The quality is great, but I think that sucks when there's so many beautiful naija women.

sigh again, I don't like it. Sure the quality is better than current Nollywood movies, but when you really look at the trailer, there's only ONE Nigerian in the trailer.

That's not really putting Nigeria on the map. Does Nigeria really need white folks and non-nigerians in their movies to make it mainstream? I think not. They should have used a Nigerian cast!

why do you guys say you don't like Nigerian movies with whites in them , is that rascism or is it that in Nigeria there are no white people? , I thought a movie is more for the storyline and the level of acting , u will prefer to watch a movie with all Nigerians in it, that is badly shot, written, acted and produced instead of a movie made by Nigerians, with a Nigerian theme, good acting, good script, good producing, good directing , well it beats me, don't really know what to say , sometimes I am forced to believe that Nollywood is crap because of the Nigerians who watch the home movies that comes out of it , they don't expect anything good, so the producers give them rubbish , well mkarera for us who know what is good and who want nollywood to step up their game , please how can we get in touch with this guys or where can we see the movie?

I am an African American female who happens to love Nollywood movies because they use an all Nigerian cast. Sure the quality of this movie is better than the current Nollywood movies being produced, BUT I've only seen ONE Nigerian in this movie!

I don't think it's racist to want to see an all Nigerian cast in a high quality movie, especially being as, it's never been done. Don't you get that? It's not racist at all. Just because the quality is better, you are saying that we should forget about all those beautiful Nigerian Nollywood actors and actresses and start using whites? Rubbish.

Then in the scene where they do show Nigerian women, they are in poverty scrambling around on the ground. And the Nigerian guy is hoping that he won't be sent back to Nigeria, like whitey land is the best and Nigeria is some kind of place to be ashamed of. I do not like that one bit.