In “The Perfect Picture: 10 Years Later,” Shirley Frimpong-Manso stays true to her style usually typified by strong female leads, tasteful architecture with lots of clean white spaces, daring themes with bold conversations.
The romance drama is a sequel to the 2009 film “The Perfect Picture” about three friends Aseye (Jackie Appiah), Akasi (Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku) and Dede (Lydia Forson) in their thirties making bold attempts to change their lives.
The sequel takes a look at where the three women are now. And the most exciting thing about this film is certainly the soundtrack. The film begins with a captivating opening sequence with an original score by Ivan Aijetey that serenades the audience into the 10-year wedding anniversary celebration of Akasi and Ofela (Adjetey Anang). Much later, there’s also a guest appearance by Ghanaian highlife musician Nana Tuffor.
The plot is similar to Frimpong-Manso’s 2014 television series “V-Republic” with sexuality and feminism as prominent themes. However in “The Perfect Picture: 10 Years Later,” Frimpong-Manso also explores the every day challenges couples face such as infertility and finance.
Despite “The Perfect Picture” portrayed at Asaki and Ofella’s anniversary party, when the cameras take us into their home, we see that their relationship is far from perfection. Her friend Aseye is married to Larry (Chris Attoh) and they have their unique challenge. Asaki and Aseye’s are facing tests at two ends of a pole. It is a case of ‘one man’s meat being another’s poison.’ As for Dede, she’s hoping her new catch Sam (Richard “RMD” Mofe-Damijo) is Mr. Right until her past comes to haunt her.
The film is star-studded. It features other heavyweights of the Ghanaian film industry including Anita Erskine (Angela), John Dumelo (Taylor), Joselyn Dumas (Flora) and some Nollywood faves namely, Beverly Naya (Samantha), Gideon Okeke (Yobanna). The female leads share good share a good on-screen chemistry. However, the story demands very little from most of the cast. RMD’s performance is perhaps the blandest you have seen from him. His character is easily forgettable. Aseye and Yobanna’s relationship is underdeveloped and so it seems Okeke and RMD were simply cast for their star power.
The Perfect Picture: 10 Years Later plods along for a good 2 hours and 27 minutes despite a very strong beginning. In the end, the way to sum up this film is the Yoruba adage that says ‘there’s no old woman in Ghana.’ It is streaming on Netflix.
