LolaDee & Alfajiri Production present Sarah Hassan (Muthoni), Stycie Waweru (Ashley), Mawule Gavor (Kobena), Pierra Makena (Njeri), Kagwe Mungai (Brian). Director of Photography, Dolapo Adeleke; Screenwriter, Dolapo Adeleke; Producer, Sarah Hassan, Executive producer, Sam K. Wangech Wawera. © 2021
I’m out of the Transvaal and finding my way into the Kilimanjaro mountains’ game reserve in Kenya. I discovered this actress, this producer; she’s a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Pink in color; God built her like a woman: delicate, beautiful, and sumptuous to the touch. I would give up heaven to spend time with her, and I would never be wrong. Gosh, she’s pretty! God, give me her and take your paradise away! She’s a lead actress and a producer of this romantic story. My heart goes out to her. She has just lost a seven-and-a-half-year-old job. Her eyes turn pink, as in tears. One of those unplanned instances you could lose sleep over, just lay there in bed and look at the ceiling. She needed some kind of respite.
Ashley (Stycie Waweru) is a middle-class kid, daughter of Muthoni’s cousin, Njeri. She’s one of those kids whose mothers sing lullaby songs when in incubation in the womb. And baby Ashley jumps out of her mother’s womb singing, “Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill…” at toddler’s age. Incredible. She watches Netflix films and intelligently discusses them with a grown-up knowledge and attitude. Njeri has to leave Ashley with someone while she’s away.
Kobena lands in Nairobi on assignment as a photographer for a notable institution. Just before landing, his friend pulls out of Nairobi. But yet, he has to keep his promise by putting up Kobena. Kobena is a big boy who can take care of himself even in a strange land like Nairobi. The friend leaves his apartment key with a next-door neighbor friend, Muthoni.
Knowing her economic condition, her younger brother suggests she babysit Ashley, her cousin’s daughter, while they are away. At first, she wouldn’t, but when she found that there’s nothing to do and this would be time to reconcile with her cousin, Njeri (Pierra Makena), she gives in.
Such is the dramatic situation our characters are faced with. Muthoni needs the time off and mind off losing her job and may use time with Ashley for respite; Kobena needs someone to talk to while his friend is away. When Kobena (Manwule Gavor) shows up at Muthoni’s door, she’s kind of confused or taken in by this gorgeous stranger at her door. She panics, not knowing where she left the keys to Kobena’s friend’s apartment.
Kobena, being tired from the flight, sleeps it off on Muthoni’s couch while she is out looking for the keys. The next day she serves Kobena a pancake breakfast. That is the beginning of goodwill and a relationship between this Kenyan belle and a Ghanian beau, photographer, whose Accra accent she admires. They mesh together alright. She falls for the outside Kenyan accent; he, for the plum tomato-colored beauty, not the bleached type, but as tomato ripe as they come. And Ashley, happy for just getting out of her parents’ house. All this occur just in time.
The adorable little Ashley has eyes that keep you spell-bound. And don’t you ever be guilty and stand to answer her questions. Those bulging grey eyes of her’s glazes over a person, like a foaming river, wash over rocks when she isn’t convinced by the statements adults make around her. She’s always deadly serious, like young Shirley Winter and unsmiling like a naughty little brat.
A casual conversation between Ashley and Muthoni is like this:
Muthoni, “It’s like having breakfast for dinner.”
Ashley, “Why do you overthink everything?”
“Overthink,” who taught you that word?”
“Dad says it a lot.”
“To who?”
“To mom.”
The telephone rings Muthoni takes it to her ears. She’s sweet and smiling. The talk with this person stretches from having kids and marriage. The conversation ends with, “Could I send you a pin if you want to join us? She gets off the phone, turns to Ashley, “Kobena is joining us for lunch.”
Ashley, deadly serious, ”Why are you smiling?”
Muthoni, cornered, “I’m not smiling.”
Ashley, “Yes, you are.”
The three characters, I could say, meet for lunch in the park—beautiful location and pretty shots, like in summer photos. Muthoni wears a pink dress, blending with her natural bright brown body color. Too sweet! Kobena wears urban and a sneaker. Youthful. Ashley wears a summer print dress. A grown-up look. And they are all jolly, Muthoni having a soppy kiss from a giraffe, except Ashley does not readily accept Kobena. Muthoni leaves both Ashley and Kobena to attend a meeting with her boss. By the time she returned, they were both in slumberland, with pizza leftovers on the table in front of them. They had bonded.
Before I gave away the entire story, I’d instead you watched. Ashley’s mother came and got her away. One disappointment for Muthoni. She couldn’t show up for the date with Kobena before his flight back to the UK. A few months later, Muthoni was surprised to meet Kobena at Ashley’s birthday party in Mombasa. And Muthoni and Kobena, been burning all along for each other, have to meet again and kiss, and both help Ashley blow off the birthday candles.
This is a well-rounded romantic story, and with instances that really stand out in the drama.
The scene where Muthoni reconciles with her cousin, Njeri, is a memorable one. It makes us know that the beef between these cousins crop up from the decision Njeri took in marrying her husband against Muthoni’s advice.
In the other scene where Kobena and Ashley are left alone, he wants to order them pizza.
Ashley stands akimbo, “Is this a bribe?”
Kobena, “Bribe?”
Ashley, “Yes, so I can tell her nice things about you, and you can ask her on another date?”
And the moment when Ashley asks Kobena to read to her, and he couldn’t.
Kobena, “Ashley, just being honest, I don’t…I don’t think I am gonna be able to read this to you. And I would rather not embarrass myself in front of a smart girl.”
Ashley, coldly, “Reading isn’t embarrassing.”
Kobena, “I know. Have you heard of the word “Dyslexia?”
“What is that?”
“It is a disorder I have that affects my reading.”
“Can you go to the hospital? Does it make you feel sad?”
“Sometimes.”
“Come, I’ll do the reading.”
That scene brings out the humanness in Ashley that could be found in grown-ups. She discovered Kobena’s weakness but didn’t use it against him. Instead, she invites Kobena to her birthday, unknown to Muthoni. She helped put Kobena and Muthoni together. And Muthoni and Njeri reconciled. What a story that proves to be like a therapy to take me to a land farther away, and sincere to its title, Just in Time?
Sarah Hassan is a promising producer and actress in Africa, especially from her gender. I recently reviewed her film, 40 Sticks, a gruesome tale about crime and criminals. Almost eighty percent of that film takes place at night and in a forest. That production must have been tedious for lighting, but she pulled it anyway. To date, Sarah Hassan has produced five features to her credit and has tv production. What a phenom to take note of?