JUMPY ROADS TO THE GIRL IN THE YELLOW JUMPER
The Girl in the Yellow Jumper is a mystery-thriller that follows the story of a man who gets abducted by a mysterious person on a yellow jumper while watching the report on “The Cigarette Butt Serial Killer” on TV. He then escapes mysteriously only to find himself in deeper trouble. Written, directed, and co-produced by cinematographer cum director, Loukman Ali, the 125-minute-multi-genre-movie had its principal photography in the northern part of Uganda, in 2018. Animation, documentary, and drama, all of these the ambitious filmmaker tried to employ to drive home his point.
Let us take a journey of the shoots.ng’s indices for measuring a cinematic efforts.
CENTRAL DRAMATIC PROBLEM
The movie wastes no time in throwing its audience into the CDP right from the opening frame. A mysterious serial killer is on the loose…. Who is he or she…? Will they be caught? But wait, who is the next victim and what’s their motive? All of these dramatic questions the director wants the viewer to think about or, is it?
Plot/Sub-plot/Plants
The movie opens with a detailed report of the serial killer, who specializes in brutally killing families. The report shows on a television set, inside the low-class apartment of a sleeping cartoonist named Jim. The presenter gives details on how the serial killer leaves a cigarette butt and a witness at every scene of his crime, only to kill them later. As Jim enjoys his nap, an unknown female figure on a yellow jumper and a medical mask walks in quietly and stabs his neck with a drug-filled syringe and then boom! Thereafter, Jim is seen with his female captor who seems to enjoy chopping of Jim’s pinky finger. The guy is on a deserted rural road with a bag, limping. More questions, right? Now, we follow this guy who spends the principal screen time of the movie with a cop, Patrick who is transporting an eyewitness in the latest killings. They exchange stories as they take turns educating each other on their areas of specialty. Jim Carrey. “No good deed goes unpunished”. The Bladda game. Suzan family. The pain of taking a bullet to the knee. The joke about Jesus kicking the bucket. How Christians used to be extremists. Jim finally narrates his kidnap-and-escape ordeal in the hands of two female “religious avengers” to Patrick who finds it strange to believe. Patrick then asks Jim to follow him to the police station so a sketch artist could help him take down the faces of his abductors and he could also take down his statement. However, Jim needs to quickly branch home as his girlfriend is in trouble. At the house, Jim suddenly overhears Patrick in an argument with a female voice. He peeps and then boom! He locks eyes with one of his kidnappers, Vicky, who happens to be the younger sister to Patrick’s girlfriend, Dorothy who Jim shot dead to escape. A fight erupts between the two guys who had been friends just a few minutes ago and Jim gets shot, guess where? Right in the knee cap. Call that the first major twist.
Now in the back seat beside the old man, on their way to god-knows-where, Jim screams in agony as Patrick threatens to shoot his other knee. Vicky then reveals Jim lied about his ordeal. New revelation! He is accused of impregnating a 12-year-old girl, conducting a quack abortion on her by himself. Dorothy learns the truth from the young girl right before her death and decides to take revenge instead of going to the police station or at least, her police boyfriend. But the whole plot takes a major twist in the end as another shocking revelation is finally let loose. The movie should be applauded for how it wittingly planted some lessons into its plot and subplot serving us with educative take-homes that will live with us for a while. Like, keeping fresh fish out of the car to avoid unpleasant odour; “sometimes, the good thing is not the right thing to do”, the story of the bladda. How Bebe Cool most likely faked his story about being shot in the knee cap. One could bet a lot of other Africans knew nothing about these.
Screenplay
Although the screenplay has several punctures, one must laud the effort of Loukman in structuring the screenplay. This is a brave and daring departure from the regular African movies on Netflix. Polkadot. Non-linear storytelling is a risky adventure to embark upon, especially with a crime-thriller. You would never see the pay-off coming. Opens with a bang and then is carefully laden with gripping scenes that keep the audience hooked. The dialogue is another fantastic side of this screenplay. Punchy, recallable lines. Some used to build tension, others to reveal more about the characters. While some were 犀利士5mg
used to change the course of the ship of events. Like, when Patrick asks Vicky, “…and Dorothy, where did she get a gun?” and Vicky replies, “she told me she borrowed yours”. Patrick then realizes, “mine was in the…” boom! A turn. A twist. Loukman also successfully plays with some, clues, motifs, set-ups, and pay-offs, like the object hanging inside Patrick’s car that ends up being a major clue. Patrick’s phone password.
However, the screenplay really fails to really live up to its full potential while committing some unforgivable errors, leaving a lot of holes, illogical and untidy ends. How Jim’s wound suddenly shifted to the left after Dorothy clearly cut off a finger from his right hand. How the fish tied to the car disappears and reappears ‘mysteriously’. How a supposed cop who had been working on criminal cases over the years misses out on a pump-action in a bag. What happened to Vicky and Jim. Clearly, they were not shot.
Character and Characterisation
The Girl in the Yellow Jumper clearly has no space for unnecessary characters as its characterization is uptight, loading each character with motivations and desires. Jim wants to get to his mom after narrowly escaping from his abductors. Off-duty cop, Patrick just wants to get rid of the innocent old man and only witness of a murder case. Dorothy wants to revenge on behalf of the deceased girl-child who died as a result of complications from abortion. Or, she just wants to avenge her religion, depending on whose story you want to believe. Loukman was so specific and particular about the subjects of this story that, he had no chill for background or flat characters. Maybe the tight budget contributed to this creative decision, as he was said to have struggled to pay the 8-man-major-cast of his movie, with reports saying they shot some scenes on an empty stomach. Again, maybe that also aided some of the expressions of the actors. Smiles.
Talk about his actors, every face is a perfect fit for each character. Their typical African look and particularization add to the unique feel and tone of the production that sells the movie. We follow Jim, played by Michael Wawuyo Jr., whose delivery was a bomb. He wraps you into his character. Loukman and his small army of cast, Maurice Kirya, Michael Mawuyo Jr., Michael Wawuyo Snr., Rehema Nanfuka, Philip Luswata, and Gladys Onyebot managed to deliver a remarkable, engaging, nicely weaved plot, keeping the audience closer and then landing with twists most wouldn’t see coming.
Cinematography
The cinematography of the movie manned by Naizi Nasser is commendable. 31-year old Loukman with his cinematographer manage to wow with beautiful shots, details, and camera angling carefully and deliberately employed by the ambitious filmmaker were key in expressing the language of the movie. The tone of the movie shares a look with something you would watch in the ’70s or ’80s from Western cinema. The pace and pacing of the movie will also make one think Loukman is a Tarantino protégé.
Directorial Prowess/Production Design/Post-production
Loukman uses his exemplary and signature direction, coupled with the soundtrack and music score, production design, props, and costumes to amplify the suspense. Many will argue that the animation documentary to explain some situations is negligible, others would say, it is actually still forgivable as the events/twists they are used to build up kind of paid off.
Lesson Learnt
One takeaway that clearly stands out from Loukman’s movie is judgment. Every day, people are judged, either positively or negatively, based on their appearance and usually, they are wrongly judged. Case study: The old man and Jim.
Conclusion
Although there are issues one cannot just close his or her eyes to in this movie. They threw continuity into the refuse bin in a couple of scenes. Loopholes in the screenplay plotting, questionable resolution. But overall, the Girl in the Yellow Jumper which is Uganda’s first movie to feature on Netflix is an ambitious attempt by Loukman. It manages to create an edge-of-the-seat kind of cinema seen in Hollywood. It is a challenge for African filmmakers to dare to employ universal filmmaking languages to express peculiar African stories.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10954526/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Verdict
I think this movie earns a 60/100 for repping quality. Cheers!
Photo credit- IMDb
