30 days in Atlanta film Review

Story by Looking Suave

Screenplay by Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani

₦137,200,000 (domestic gross)

Running time: 108 minutes

Strongest feature: One of the good things about the film is the picture quality, good acting and humor. So let’s get to other essentials of a great story. Since Screenplay is my forte, I will analyze the story and leave technical scrutiny to those who knows best. 

A story structure must haves.(Global best practices)

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begin with a memorable image.	Absent
Find the catalyst/motivation/Inciting Incidence e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Present
Raise the central question	Absent
Establish the conflict.	Absent
Establish the antagonist.	Absent
Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Absent
Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Absent
Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present mildly
Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Absent
Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present mildly
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Absent
The big finish/climax   The question is answered	Absent
Resolution	Present

 Verdict 

Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani is found guilty of  error of plot deficiency
 and hereby sentenced to 'write better villa' for 9 months without parole 

It doesn’t really have the classical 3 act structure that we are taught in film school. It is a 108 minutes film and at the 6^th minute we got our inciting incidence, which is a good thing. A little conflict was established also at the 6^th minute via the break up issue with Richard’s girlfriend, ESE.

By the 16^th minute, we got our 1^st Turning point. The story is about Akpors and Richard and at this stage, all we know is that they want to travel to Atlanta because they got a free visa/ticket. No major conflict in the 1^st act. By the way, 16^th -19^th minute was used to establish 1^st turning point (which is way too much time to establish a plot point).

Since we entered 2^nd act at the 19^th minute, we began following Richard and Akpors in different series of events of culture shocks for Akpors then at the 35^th minute, Richard spotted a girl, Kimberly who he wanted badly and it was until the 48^th minute that Richard begins to timidly approach his love interest, Kimberly. At the 54^th minute, Akpors gets a job offer he didn’t apply for and which he isn’t supposed to do because he has a visiting visa. 

Akpors also develop love interest towards an older woman at the 60^th minute. Pretty much we started seeing serious conflict at the 80^th minute ( which is too late) with Ese lying to Kim that she is Richard’s wife and Akpors getting into trouble with the police and later having a misunderstanding with his woman. By the 105^th minute, we entered the 2^nd turning point and the resolution, reunion with the estranged love interest of both men takes place and the happy ending of a Romantic- Comedy occurred.

Now, here is the catch, the story doesn’t have major plot points expected of a screenplay as tabulated above. It is mostly a chronicle of the times of the two friends in Atlanta but hey people loved it. At least the cash register reflected it.

This is a movie you watch, sitting like this... but that's what we want right? 

Happy, relaxed and entertained. This is a movie you can watch and still keep up with social media chats while at it. It doesn’t keep you at the edge of the sit at all but gives you a good laugh nonetheless in some scenes. 

The film broke some of the rules in a screenplay textbook but who cares, people loved it and the Producer made money. If you are a sucker for great storytelling then you might not like the film much but if you are big fan of humor, AY, Ramsey Noah, RMD and good picture quality, then this is for you. It is no longer in the cinemas but you can buy a CD copy.