Synopsis: House of secrets tells the story of a sheltered woman whose past comes back to haunt her when she’s thrown in jail for being an accomplice to her spy lover. Twenty years later, a group rescues her from jail and set up a semblance of her old house to make her remember a secret number her spy lover hid with her.
The sentiments around this particular movie will be divided. Some would love it, some would hate it and some people (like me) would be indifferent.
What worked?
The story was a good one, House of Secrets tries to tell a kind of story we are not used to and this is very commendable. The movie setting was really good, picture quality was great, everything was crisp.
I liked the fact that they tried to explore a mental disorder like dissociative amnesia. I liked the way they introduced the young Sarah and Panama to us, I enjoyed watching their relationship.
The use of flashbacks in this movie was quite good, I particularly liked the scene where Sarah had flashbacks that transported her back and forth between her past to present day, it was very well done. Plot progression was coherent and they were able to bring everything to a logical conclusion, so that’s a plus for them.
Acting and casting worked to some extent. The lead character in this movie gave a convincing performance as Sarah (played by Najite Dede). I saw her for the first time in this movie and I must say she embodied the character perfectly. As soon she appeared on the screen, I could feel that all was not well with her, as the movie progressed, I could sense her agitation and mental turmoil, it was palpable. Shawn Faqua, Efe Irele, Femi Jacobs and Kate Henshaw delivered their roles as expected. Nothing remarkable though.
Funlola Aofiyebi (Mrs Lawal) was over-acting. Daniel (played by Emeka Nwagbaraocha – Far From Home) is so used to being the timid guy in the background, he was unable to bring any personality to the important character he played in this movie. The scene where he was crying with his mother was the worst, it looked so fake. As for the other team members, they just occupied space.
What did not work?
Spy thriller, psychological thriller, these are some of the words that have been used to describe this movie but I don’t think this movie belongs to the thriller genre because there was nothing thrilling about it. The entire plan was not that smart if we are being honest. While watching this movie, nothing keeps you at the edge of your seat, the twists do not make you gasp, no suspense, no shocks, no high points, no dramatic moments, everything was just there.
The trailer of this movie was more intriguing than the movie itself.
They were trying so hard to make the movie seem deep as a result, too many scenes were in slow motion, the drums and the use of ominous sounds was a little too much- too obvious. Still, the movie lacked depth.
Another issue with this movie was the fact that they did not really pay attention to details. The first thing I’ll mention is Sarah’s wig in 1999. Not only was that wig not an ideal representation of women’s hairstyle in 1999, but Niyi Akinmolayan wanted us to believe that Sarah wore this wig all through her courtship with Panam, she wore this wig all through her pregnancy term, she was still wearing this same wig while she was in prison for 5 years and when she was transferred to the Mental home, she still had this wig. How??
Also, the fire that destroyed the post office burnt everything but the paper poster on the wall and the paper files on the counter were untouched….how? Nobody saw that??
Still on attention to details, as result of how the story was told, I was not sure what was real and what was fake as a result, I couldn’t really appreciate the movie. Let me give examples:
The building with the young couple who lived on the other side of Sarah’s window, were they real or just a figment of Sarah’s imagination?
At first I thought they were real. I thought they were part of Mrs Lawal’s plan to help jog Sarah’s memory, but the problem with maintaining this position is that Mary and Johnson were fighting about the same things Panam and Sarah used to fight about. Mrs Lawal and her team could not have been privy to those details, so they could not have been part of the plan.
I guess that means they were just a product of Sarah’s imagination. Sarah was just relieving her experiences with Panam. The issue with maintaining this position is that, if they were not real, the couple and that building should only have been visible when Sarah was looking at them, because the they do not exist outside her mind. Unfortunately, there were a few times when we saw the building even though Sarah was not looking at it.
Then i thought, the building must be real but Mary and Johnson were just a product of Sarah’s disturbed mind. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this position too. At some point, that building also disappeared. In that scene where Sarah started to remember her past, after a while, she looked out of her window and screamed Panam.
At that point, the building was gone! Her window was not overlooking the building anymore, instead it was overlooking the city and all we could see was the dark sky and bright lights, so I ask again, what was real and what was not?? If you are reading this review, I want to hear your thoughts on this.
To further buttress the point that there was no clear delineation between what was real and what was not, i’ll like to draw your attention to the point where it was revealed that nobody was present when Sarah ran out of the campaign building. If you remember what happened just before she ran out, we saw a very bright light flashing on and off behind Sarah almost like someone was playing with the switch, then a shadow moved back and forth on the wall, then the recorded train sound came on and one would assume that it was just Mrs Lawal and her team messing with Sarah in order to help her remember things faster but since no one was around, what actually happened in that scene? Where did the flashing lights and the shadow come from?? Was that her trauma showing up too? Or am i overthinking things?
To round it all up, I thought the end of this movie was not properly executed. Let’s start with the fire. It was so obvious
that the fire was not real, they used lights and fake smoke to create the illusion of a burning house but we could clearly see that nothing was burning!! Also, why were they all standing around awkwardly? What was with the fake coughing and choking sounds?
The final straw for me was when Daniel, AKA: “Fireboy” ran into the burning house without any protective gear. Somehow, he knew exactly where to check for the documents. Even though critical thinking would reveal how implausible the whole thing was, House of secrets expected us to believe that although Daniel did not have any digging equipment, he was able to dig a hole in the wall using a wooden item he found inside the burning building and he retrieved the documents..…haba?!!
In all this, the most annoying part for me was the fact that the whole house was burning red like hell fire, but the curtains in Mrs Eket’s house did not catch fire, they were untouched……..if I talk now, they will say NMR likes to complain but how does that make any sense??????????
Then Daniel walked out of the building unscathed, his shirt was fine, he did not faint from inhaling so much smoke, I guess there must have been a fourth man in the fire with him because, make it make sense!!!
in Mrs Eket’s house did not catch fire, they were untouched. Then Daniel walked out of the building unscathed, his shirt was fine, he did not faint from inhaling so much smoke, I guess there must have been a fourth man in the fire with him. If I talk now, they will say NMR likes to complain but how does that make any sense???
The final scene where Sarah and Daniel walked into General Sanni’s mini-hall feeling powerful was very unrealistic. They did not have the facilities to go against the General even with their secret documents, but i guess the owners of this movie were determined to give us a happy ending.
Overall, House of Secrets was just there for me. While I understand that some would appreciate it because it is a bold attempt to tell a different type of story, I could not look past the loopholes, the tension free story telling, the lackluster performances and poor direction that marred this movie.
Rating: 5/10
