Loved Out fails to gain my love

ACCORDING to Stats SA, the number of legally married South Africans has dropped significantly over the past few decades. Single households have grown by 150%. Being single is becoming increasingly common and socially acceptable. Perhaps tolerance levels have dropped and the desire for personal autonomy is on the rise. Or are people just loved out?

Last week Thursday I was invited to the premiere of a dramedy called Loved Out at the Cinecentre in Grandwest. The film is written, directed and produced by Zimbabwean-South African Tendayi Nyeke and is currently showing at NuMetro, Ster-Kinekor and CineCentre theatres across South Africa. 

Nyeke is a South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) winner and the Executive Producer of Disney’s Kizazi Moto.

“I started working on this film over a decade ago when I left Zimbabwe and saw dreams shatter under pressure,” said Nyeke. 

“Loved Out is for anyone who has ever questioned if they matter, anyone who has hustled while pretending to have it all together. It’s about what keeps us going when life gets nuts: love, laughter and refusing to be edited out.”

I was not too convinced by the storyline. It felt rushed, or rather 'rhythmically fast-paced' as they say, with a non-linear narrative structure that tries to tell many things all at once. This is compounded by the trending meta-cinematic storytelling technique that integrates elements of digital interaction (social media) on-screen thereby constantly reminding one it is all fictional. 

Loved Out was shot within a 19-day period. This is an amazing feat considering how brilliantly shot it was. It is the cinematography that kept me glued to it. Hats off to cinematographer Gaopie Kabe who is also behind Lockdown, Side Dish Dilemma and The River. The Foley sounds could have been enhanced in post-production, especially for the fight scenes or dramatic parts.

But that's just me and my pedantic film school takeaways. The audience loved the film and I was particularly drawn to the lead actor Bahumi Mhlongo, Somizi Mhlongo's daughter. Call it curiosity. It was my first time seeing her acting and I must say she was clearly born with it. Bahumi plays the part of Ruva - a young self-styled, assertive-yet-insecure, social media dependent, restaurant owner that is one bad review away from total collapse. Together with her no-nonsense, scandal-prone mother Gloria, played by Khabonina Qubeka, Ruva tries to drag the restaurant out of the gutter and into gourmet territory.

In between all of that there is love, a crumbling marriage, a jealous rival, an avaricious pastor, a kidnapping and a R1-million culinary hotspot online competition.

Loved Out bounces between the contrasting worlds of polished private schools, a rustic, millennial-run restaurant, a slick publishing empire and a cramped cottage filled with big personalities fighting for space. Through these locations, the film explores the smoke and mirrors of modern life  - what people wear, eat, post and pretend - all while asking the real question: What happens when keeping up appearances nearly gets you killed?

The film features a stellar cast that even includes Tumi Morake, Ayakha Ntunja,  Marcus Mabusela, Thulani Nzonzo, Jefferson Lan-Linden and Eliazer Shadung. Khabonina Qubeka was not used to the fullest. 

When you hear the name Khabonina you expect quite a lot. The lack of vernac or local languages made for some cringe moments especially in the mother-daughter dialogue scenes. The husband, who is Shona, could’ve also used his mother tongue to make the script richer instead of saying everything in English. English tends to kill the essence of local comedy.

There is a new relationship between South Africans and Shonas, that is rich. But not taken advantage of in the film. And this film gives us a glimpse of it. The story needs to be told. Hence I said the film felt rushed earlier. I would have loved to see more character development.

I am in no way trying to throw shade on Loved Out, if anything we need to see more South African films in our cinemas. Nyeke must keep going and pushing these boundaries until she becomes a household name. 

That said, I left the film feeling it was more a teen story than an adult movie and I would give it an A+ for effort.

There is some first-look footage, behind-the-scenes drama, cast confessions, and more on the film's Instagram and Tik Tok - @LovedOutAF - but like I said, the film is out there in cinemas nationwide, check it out for yourselves.

Cape Times