Reviewes By Ajibare Abioye
Miedo is a movie that treats the theme of fear and its negative repercussions on our lives. This is done through the life of Joke, played by Omolara Ayoola. While she is a believer, she sometimes comes across to me as rather unkind, and this shows itself most whenever she is fearful. The movie makes it clear that being afraid would only limit us from getting the best from God. Also, the benefits of openness in courtship are highlighted here.
Ajibare Abioye
The standout character for me was Ololade Okedare’s Jessica, who was a nemesis for the hero, Tunde, played by Kayode Babalola. Though the film was interesting, I could not but imagine a character-driven rather than an event-propelled story producing a better movie. The attempts at her backstory didn’t eventually do it for me largely due to the sound design that unnecessarily played background tunes to virtually every dialogue, jumbled multiple diverse sounds together, and most consequentially, occasionally made key dialogue inaudible. In retrospect, one of Miedo’s original soundtracks – with a hard rock form – would have been a solid and creative foundation to build other scores on.
I humbly state areas in need of improvement because I believe the production and distribution companies at work here are top-class and aim to produce movies of high quality. One of such aspects is a first for me in terms of constructive criticism: the title Miedo. It was subtitled “Brace yourself” at the beginning, but interpreted as the Spanish word for ‘fear’ at the end. More than the needless quasi-discrepancy in that, that line of dialogue was unrealistic for me, as Spanish is not a language the average genius Nigerian picks off the streets. Hence, foregrounding Tunde’s seeming knowledge of Spanish might have made it more credible.
Still in line with credibility, Tunde’s and Joke’s wedding and accident scenes were not convincingly executed. Similarly, I suspect the screenplay of Miedo would have needed some updating because firstly, I find it difficult to grasp an elite in this age being ignorant of what a drone is, and secondly, due to some old common quotes on fear being registered as her thoughts, which made her epiphany unlikely to me.
Lastly, there were (perhaps) key continuity issues responsible for events such as the baffling killing of the corps members, Tunde’s transition from the jaws of death to junior management, from his house to the den to kidnappers, and then to succour. All these just don’t add up for me, and fading to black in multiple scenes isn’t standard practice in my opinion.
When due attention is given to these things, our productions would be much better.
The link to the movie https://youtu.be/sA17oCjsgSg
Till the next review, stay blessed!
Film Credits
Miedo (YouTube – February 2, 2023)
TM Pictures
87 minutes
Cast
Lara Ayoola as Joke
Daramola Kayode Babalola as Tunde
Ololade Okedare as Jessica
Adedamola Salako as Wale
Sola Oyin-Adejobi as Mr Ilésanmí
Crew
Story – Israel Akinlawon
Screenplay – Tola Bolaji
Cinematographer – Kunle Adepoju
Editor – Abiola “Nattytunez” Babatola
Director – Daramola Kayode Babalola