By Ajibare Abioye
Not too many short films catch my attention; Not Good Enough did.
The 20-minute long short was written and directed by Land of Fury (2018) star (General), Joseph Opadele, who was ably assisted by his amusing assistant (Mario) in the same movie, Kolo Peter. It was released on the Joseph Opadele YouTube channel from the stables of Salt Drama Ministries, Zaria, Nigeria.
The cinematography of this movie is commendable as the DOP on set – Kolo Peter – purposefully chooses his shots to aid the telling of the story. Rather than rely heavily on dialogue to inform the audience about everything in a scene, this movie lets the shots do the talking where appropriate. Also, though the story is relatively straightforward and short one, the choice of shots, as well as the editing (done by Joseph Opadele) makes it look like a complex storyline. The DOP also chooses to go handheld sometimes, which helps to create an illusion of the tension in a scene or the instability of a character. Most actors played their parts and delivered their lines believably, which made the movie easier to follow.
Another remarkable thing about this short is the score used in the movie. The choice of background music is appropriate and immerses the viewer a bit more into the experience of a pleasurable watching. Even the use of silence and the absence of background music achieve specific effects and give this short movie a feature film length impression. To cap it off, the theme music of the movie’s title by Johnson Obisesan (Majorjay) provides the perfect, three-minute end credits sequence to the movie. It’s beautifully rendered and is a message on its own, how much more after watching such a heart-touching production. In fact, you might catch yourself humming the song after having watched the movie.
The film talks about a man who is being constantly rejected in different aspects of his life, and while he is discouraged, one of his productions helps to save another hopeless person like him, from committing suicide. The hopelessness of the beginning is replaced with a hope that would soothe the heart of every human being, that though we aren’t good enough, God still loves us so much.
All in all, it turns out that Not Good Enough was actually good enough, maybe even better than that.
Click on the link below to watch the movie: https://youtu.be/Lcnmy6Vnpw8
Later in the week, we’ll be reviewing another interesting 2019 movie in “The Salt”. Watch out!