TREASURE IN THE SKY: A REPRESENTATION OF POOR DIRECTING

It’s relieving to finally see a youtube movie that does not fit into the youtube movie standard and deviates from the conventional love stories found on the platform. The High School film released on the Uche Mbunabo TV is an exception and also gives him a competitive edge while raising the standard higher everyday for youtube films.

Set in a high society secondary school, the story explores the reality of high school finalists while focussing on young and ever cheerful Jidenna Khalil Mbunabo played by Clinton Joshua.  who always tried to make everyone happy anyway he can. happiness the best way he knows how to. On a school trip, Jidenna made it his job to make sure everyone was happy starting from Kamsi played by as they rode and subsequently followed it through in the entire journey.

Trying to solve the problem of everybody and sharing a smile or two or three when he could. Watching him complete his bucket list through  Kamsi is one of the most fulfilling scenes to watch seeing he also fulfilled hers as well.

The film was a display of great and engaging storytelling, the relatability of Jidenna’s character as that person who always tried to make everyone happy despite being at his lowest and dying from Stage 4 Myeloid Leukaemia as we later got to know.  

Treasure in the sky is more of a tragic love story and though it portrayed happy stories in the beginning, the ending was quite emotional thanks to the chain of  tragic events and encounters that followed after and was crowned with Jidenna’s death.

But, a great story and exceptional actors does not make a great film, and even though “A Treasure in the Sky” was a great story, it failed woefully at directing, editing, and Cinematography.

The actors and ensemble of cast were properly selected with each embodying their role optimally. From the happy, cheerful and ever excited Jidenna, it just felt like watching him in his natural state. A representation of excellence and a strong display of emotions. He was not just connected to the role, he more of Owned it. Miwa Olorunfemi acting deserves some accolades because she gave a true representation of a loner. Reserved, calm, Organised and smart. She knew to express emotions when and where she how making it all the more beautiful.

Miss Valeria and Bella poorly represented by Courtney Ocha John And Precious Akaeze Did an exceptionally poor job in portraying their respective roles. While we have to deal with Miss Val misplaced acting on one hand, we still have to worry about Bella’s failed attempt at “Discretely” expressing he role. She sadly under delivered. Samson played by Christian Effiong did a fair job at being the odd guy. The actors here gave their all to this film and it was represented in the actors and stars present.

Ben Cassie did a poor job in editing the movie, as you have multiple cases of dragged out scenes, unnecessary clips  and many other irrelevant scenes that should not have made it to the final screen. The film was a 3 hours movie that was not properly edited.

The film was set in Abuja with the high school located there, so it felt wrong to not see the representation of the average Abuja lifestyle. For a movie based in Abuja, we would naturally expect to see a student in a hijab, a random person wearing a jollibee or a typical Abuja Setting, as this would have solidified the Abuja location and given life to the location.

The film was also harassed with poor cinematography and low sound quality. It was bad having to experience the sound suddenly going off or being lower than average, lots of inconsistencies harrased the sound at multiple scenes reducing the flow and fun of seeing this film.

The angling and directing team also seem to have their problems as they seem to miss out on showing important details and a few unnecessary scenes. Overall, it was a good story with a great ensemble of cast, but suffered from poor editing on the other hand.

We would give the film a  2/5 rating because of the poor directing and editing portrayed in virtually every scene even though the ensemble of cast did great at hiding this problem. 

By Miracle Marcus