MOVIE REVIEW: FAR FROM HOME


(Mild Spoiler Warning!)


When hearing about Far From Home, what comes to mind first is Spiderman: Far From Home. When I heard about a Nigerian TV show releasing on Netflix, I was curious to see what it was about. 

This show got its share of usual critique from Nigerian Twitter space, not the Twitter space function but Nigerians on Twitter; just to clarify. 

They complained about the casting being too rigid after seeing the trailer and official poster. The complaint was about the cast looking way older than their age for the setup of the high school student's story it was trying to tell, which I entirely agree with, but does it break the immersion? Well, you’ll have to stay around till the end of the article to find out.

Far from Home follows the story of Ishaya Bello, a talented artist from the slums of Lagos who will not let anything stop or get in the way of him achieving his dream of becoming a renowned artist. 

The show is five episodes long; the first and final are fifty minutes, and the others are just thirty minutes. I didn't feel like they were too short or too long. Episode 2 had a continuation problem involving Ishaya finding himself in an odd place after passing out at a party. The pacing is good.

Moving on to the characters, Mike Afolarin plays Ishaya Bello excellently. He shines in it as he takes the audience on the journey of a character who will lie, steal, cheat and commit other heinous crimes to find his way to the top without looking back. 

This show has different familiar faces, and they play their characters well. However, the supporting characters are nothing you haven’t seen before in Hollywood movies and TV shows. The rich kid with daddy issues? Check. The one with mommy issues? Check. The nerd boy who will fall in love with the nerd girl? Check.

The outcast with whom no one wants to associate? Check. The cool boy who is the head of the sports team? Check. Nigerian touches to some of the characters, making them feel right at home.

There are the duo crime bosses: Rambo and Government. One is a brute without brains, and the other has some brains. If an award goes to the dumbest crime boss, you’ll ever see on screen. It has to be Rambo. It could be a decision from the writer’s room to make this character so generic just to fit into the budget of their productions, which is a smart move. Still, the character is almost cartoonish when he tries to be tough over simple issues and conflicts.

 Although, there was a scene where Rambo commanded Ishaya’s father not to call him a particular name. A backstory could have been explored during the runtime. (What if there’s going to be a second part that delves into this story?) 

I also feel this way about Ishaya’s father, but we must remember that the budget may not allow these explorations. So, we can give the show a free pass on this if that is the case. 

The cinematography of this show is of high quality and on a different level from many Nigerian productions, especially with its consistency and continuity. 

The editing and cutting of scenes weren't as awkward as you’ll find in many Nollywood productions. The show wasn’t bloated with brand advertisements in the audience’s faces. I will say the company in charge of the productions, Inkblot Productions, took the standard up a notch with this show in Nollywood. 

The sound score was okay, although some of the post-recorded voiceovers for some scenes didn’t sync well, and if you’re not paying attention well, you might not notice this. The choice of background music was excellent too.

Far From Home reflects a lot about our reality and society: dreams and ambition, poverty, dysfunctional families, privilege, and so many more. The ending was played safe. Ishaya got off too easy for what he had made others go through with his actions, but you know? That could be life.

Most of the characters got a happy ending, but not all, at least not Rambo, "Mr. No brains and all muscles." I find where he ended up comical—returning to the original question.

By the show's end, it didn’t feel like the choice of actors broke the immersion at any point. So, to the court of public opinion on the internet, you’re wrong on this one for me. The story is not groundbreaking, but it was an okay watch for me, and you can just watch this show to relax, and it's very easy to binge.


About the Author

Olayinka Ajayi is a writer, creative director, and movie blogger from Nigeria. Having been involved in the entertainment circle since childhood, his interests range from comics, movies, and animations to video games. He has consistently developed his interest in the entertainment field which led to the creation of his movie review blog, 'Review Krunch', the blog is distinct for its engaging reviews and analysis. 

When he is not analyzing the latest movies or working on some creative designs and stories, he's helping out as a contributor in mobile game communities. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman

Image
Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman is an adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman, set in Nigeria during the colonial era (WWII). The source material is a classical play in African literature and theatre. The events of the play are said to be based on true events that occurred in Oyo in 1943. My first encounter with this play was during my undergraduate days as a literature student, and if you ask anyone that is into African literature or even the older generations, they’ve probably come across it during their secondary school days or even in the university. I can tell you for free that this play has also been performed countless times by performing theatres in different universities and private theatres. So a lot of people are not strangers to the story. Regardless, seeing it adapted for mainstream media is really a good thing for more people to experience the story. The plot summary of the movie goes like this: " The king died 30 days ago. Tonight, Elesin ...
Read more

Tackling the Bias Against Women in Nollywood

Image
Nollywood is still a new and developing business. Even so, there are a number of great feats that the industry has achieved over the years. Talents such as Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, the queen of Nollywood who has more than 300 films and millions of video copies sold, prove Nigeria’s film industry dynamism. After decades of slow growth, Nollywood, one of the largest film industries in the world in terms of number of films produced, is a story of runaway success. As of 2016, the industry made up N 853.9 billion ($7.2 billion), or 1.42 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. It employs more than a million people directly or indirectly and can be considered the country’s second-biggest source of jobs after agriculture. Based on the sheer quantity and quality of films being made, economic observers consider Nollywood one of the major planks on which to diversify the Nigerian economy. However, the industry is faced with problems ranging from a lack of funding to piracy and copyright infringement to poor man...
Read more

Adapations: Bringing Nigerian Stories To The Big Screen

Image
Why adaptation? The rich content and already established fan base make for a high chance of successful marketing. Africa is known for its rich folklore culture with true stories and fables recited by Griots dating far back. This culture of passing down stories and moral lessons from oral to written and reenacted accounts via the media of novels and plays respectively has enthralled generations of African audiences. With motion picture being the next frontier, it is time to consider adding adaptions of classical African stories into the cinematic medium for a new generation of audience. Movie adaptations of folk stories could similarly reinvigorate the Nollywood box office just like in Hollywood where films and series are reformatted for an existing fan base, for example, comics (as evident by the success of the MCU adaptations), books (as with the Twilight series) and video games (The Witcher). Impactful stories such as Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart', Cypre...
Read more