Up North Review…a virtual trip to Bauchi!

Year: 2018
Genre: Tradition, Family, Friendship, Travel, Self-Discovery, Drama
Cast: Banky Wellington, Rahama Sadau, Ibrahim Suleiman, Kanayo O Kanayo, Michelle Dede, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Rekiya Atta, Sani Mu’azu, Saeed Mohammed, Akin Lewis
Director: Tope Oshin
Writer: Bunmi Ajakaiye, Chinaza Onuzo
Cinematographer: Pindem Lot, Kagho Idhebor
Summary: Bassey, a young rich graduate, has to do his youth service up north in Bauchi where he’s forced to embrace a completely different culture

Overall Rating: Beignets
Soooo…Up North received a lot of bad publicity, which is the reason why it took us so long to see. Bad decision! Up North was such a delight, it was like a virtual trip of Bauchi😎
Up North could have been elevated with more solid acting and script. But overall, it was a feel-good watch
~Worth Watching~

Delicious
—Not many stories are shot in the North so it was a nice change to appreciate the Bauchi scenery. The cinematographers gave us a good slice of the city making us want to visit, for sure.
Many thanks to the location managers for scouting such breathtaking areas like the animal parks, the canyons, and the festivals
—Up North sent a gentle message (without being preachy) concerning the need for girls to practice sports rather than consider it a taboo. The fact that Bassey was a social media personality added a plus to the narrative, making it more interactive with his fans
—Brand advertisements were carried out in a soft manner during the film; it wasn’t in our face, actually, unless you rewound some parts, you wouldn’t really notice
—The soundtracks were awesome especially that ‘Gargajiya’ song by Classiq. We even looked it up on Youtube 😀

Bland
—As stated earlier, Up North was a nice watch, we’re thankful for the clean entertainment.
What could have moved Up North to the next stage was acting. Banky Wellington (playing Bassey) and the rest of his cast played it safe. They were basically just repeating their lines without actually getting into the spirit of their characters
—The screenplay, sadly, did not have a powerful climax. Matter of fact, we could map out the end from the beginning
—Crisp sound engineering and more fluid editing were missing