Kedibone

This is one of those movies that were never meant to be released. It's as though when the writers were still busy with the plot, someone came in set and said "let's just do it, l have a plan".

The story line doesn't make sense at all. And why do we have people in their early 30's and mid 40's playing roles for teens. Come on South Africa.

First of all casting age appropriate actors. Secondly the lead was in her first trimester of pregnancy yet she didn't care if it was visible or not. The director and producer were lazy. The writing was not production ready but they chanced they'd wing the narrative and it fell so flat it just said South Africans cannot tell their own stories! However Msithi played by Thabo Gabriel Malema played second fiddle with panache, the best friend who kept a secret to not hurt his boy. His scenes had emotion though the flair of the all round characters was unexciting nor compelling. Even veteran actors like Kenneth Nkosi and Matli Mahopela were stiff and lacked charisma. Nkosi did his best to be the lightweight of heavy issues by using his comical nature to bring comedy into it but it didn't hold. The inciting incident was weak and throughout the 135mins one could feel the pace dragged out to an anticlimax and a very soapy resolution. The acting again was not up to standards. I should have rated this 0.2/10. I kept getting the feeling Thomas Gumede was talking about himself through this film. The subject matter had more to do with his own issues that telling a story with range, raw emotion and bring us to the moral of it. No essence at all to this picture.

Again The sound of the film was not not mastered. Over some conversations between characters the music deadened their dialouges and it was amateurish.

This movie emphasises the perlious cost of doing anything to achieve one's dreams.

Kedibone is a very sad and heart-wrenching movie about a poor young teen living in Soweto whose University funds are covered by her loyal boyfriend- after her aunty spent her varsity funds without her permission. Her dream is to become an actor, and she'll do whatever it takes to become one- even if it results in her betraying both herself and her loved ones.

It's painful to see how the adults in this movie exploit Kedibone's hunger to achieve her dreams; how she ends up almost losing herself entirely as she tries to fulfil their selfish whims for gain. Young, vulnerable and poor; she sees this route as her only way to stardom, but what she receives is the complete opposite of that.

The characters feel real, Kedibone's descent into despair as money and status tempts her into a life of materialism, popularity and treachery is saddening, and the movie's chilling message on how one can end up destroying themselves when doing anything to achieve their dreams- resonated with me.

Brilliant and thought provoking movie; I found it very relatable. Kedibone fell into a trap that any one of us could fall into.

Life is a mystery. I honestly do not understand how a badly conjured screenplay gets into production. I am certain there are certain stages a script goes through until it goes into production. Should somehow the script manages to go into production with errors, while filming effort will be made to fix them.

Though it is a cheap movie, a talented crew would have come up with better film. I have watched many splendid movies with shoe string budgets. Primer (2004) comes to mind. I was not expecting Memento (2000) or Her (2014) kind of screenplay just a sensible movie. Some basic stuff just did not make sense in this movie.

Look no further than low-budget films for authentic, well-written, and high-quality storylines. If you can get past the technical components of the picture, you'll find a compelling plot.

No, I'm not implying that this Kedibone is the same film. This film had a lot of flaws, from weak script to subpar acting, and it made me question why they bothered to make it. The plot reads like a collection of Facebook gossip stories that someone thought "we could make a movie out of this."

Wright Ngubeni is the best part of the film. He carries the entire film on his shoulders, and it's a shame he didn't get the credit he deserves for the excellent work he does.