Ticket to Life: Another missed goal by the filmmaker [Pulse Contributor's Opinion]

As I entered the cinema to see Ticket to Life, I made an effort to put any negative impressions of the filmmaker to rest. My first interaction with the director was through his film Tanwa Savage, which was detested by many moviegoers, commentators, and reviewers for a variety of reasonable reasons.

Adebayo Adebayo when reviewing Tanwa Savage for Film Rats Club writes that “It is really hard to find anything to like about this movie. One can point out its cinematography and set design, which were quite good, but even that is a low bar for Nollywood these days. The generous critic could also point out Bimbo Ademoye being the only one acting like she cares and is really the beacon in the sea of mediocrity that is this movie”

I got the same impression after watching Tanwa Savage, therefore I chose not to write nor post a review because the film –as at the time– already had little to no chance of succeeding in the film industry due to the deluge of unfavorable reviews.

I hoped and muttered words of prayer in my head before entering the cinema to see Ticket to Life that it would act as payback for the director, so I had to cope to a considerable part with my poor opinion of him and his work.

The synopsis of the film as in the press release read that the feature follows Nafisat who travels to Lagos from the village in search of greener pastures, she soon realizes that the grasses are not as green as they seem when discovering a haunting secret and must now make a deal with an archenemy to preserve her only means of survival.

Don't let the synopsis in the press release fool you, the film is nothing like it—at least, not as interesting or coherent.

Given the events in the movie, it is challenging to provide a cogent summary. But, even if it would be abrupt, I'll try.

The film is the story of Katherine and Joshua (Linda Osifo and Christian Ochiagha), a couple who struggle to conceive a child, and is told in Ticket to Life in a manner reminiscent of Tanwa Savage. They come up with a plan to conceive as the husband's mother (Tina Mba) is breathing down their necks.

They decide to use Nafisat (Kubra Emokpaire), a village girl who was brought to Lagos by her boyfriend Leo (Sambasa Nzeribe), as a surrogate, but things quickly go out of hand.

Ticket to Life is plagued with issues. But first, let's analyze the storytelling using the principle of verisimilitude as a guide. A movie has verisimilitude if it feels realistic and the narrative includes elements, topics, and people that seem comparable to or accurate to actual life, or emulate believable parts of reality in significant or essential ways.

The impact of the film will diminish or become unimpressive if a character cannot be believed, either within or without, of her "made believe" surroundings on screen.

This idea is betrayed by Ticket to Life, which presents the story in a way that raises doubts about how rational the choices the characters make are, despite the fact that the plot is meant to seem humanistic and universal.

The few characters that do change in this movie do not change "naturally." In a scene that is intended to include the inciting incident, I thought to myself "This is possibly the worst inciting incident I have seen in a movie" . For the viewers, it is unacceptable that the characters would betray the world they live in.

All of the characters in a film live in a world. Either fictional or otherwise. They do, however, have common goals and experiences.

The mechanism of their antagonistic journey must resemble a life story in which we can imagine the virtue or sacrifice of the journey to be worthwhile and the resolution of the character anew, in victory or tragedy, meaningful even with suspension of disbelief. Their struggle must resonate with the audience members.

The acting in Ticket to Life by most cast members is flat. The chemistry between Linda Osifo and Christian Ochiagha seems terribly off. Perhaps it's a result of Christain's emotionless and robotic demeanor.

In most of the scenes including him, all I could wish for is a merciful hailstorm to occur and save me from consuming the disaster served to me as a visual meal.

I haven't had problems with a film's musical soundtrack in a while, but Ticket to Life's music gave me a lot to think about. In the rare instances that the music does not contradict the action, it is either overpowering or underdone, so the music does not sound like an original score, leaving a cacophony of terrible effects behind.

Perhaps the music was added to the images after being downloaded from a source with no copyright restrictions.

Just like Tanwa Savage, the cinematography and production design for the Ticket to Life can be commended but only if you're not juxtaposing it with current designs and visuals in Nollywood. If one is to do that, Ticket to Life's cinematography is below par.

A lot is wrong with Ticket to Life. If Tanwa Savage is an “Ode to Pain”, Ticket to Life is pain itself. An excruciating pain.

Noteworthy:

Makeup team, tiny scars don't take years to heal o

Why do people suddenly develop an accent when they get small amounts of money?

What was that monologue at the end?

Even Tina Mba's prolific acting couldn't save a sinking ship.

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Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of a Pulse Contributor, it doesn't reflect the opinions of the company.