The Crusader Newspaper Group

The Price is formula story about a Black man fighting various odds

By Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J., Chicago Crusader

Anthony Onah’s debut thriller “The Price” opens in theaters on November 10th, 2017 in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas and more. The high stakes thriller stars fast rising actors Aml Ameen (star of Idris Elba’s upcoming directorial debut “Yardie,” “Sense8″, “Maze Runner,” “The Butler” and Lucy Griffiths (“Preacher” and “True Blood”).

The film, which world premiered in competition at SXSW and has since played at other festivals including Seattle and Boston, follows a young Nigerian-American as he navigates complications in family, love and business while secrets threaten to destroy him. The film explores a young person juggling various identities – professional at work, traditional at home, alpha-male with his co-workers, sensitive within his relationship – and the crippling pressures these expectations can bring.

“The Price” is a good film about a Nigerian-American trying to make it on Wall Street, but with so much mystery surrounding him that he even concocts a lie about his parents’ profession. He claims that they are both physicians, while in reality one is a nurse and the father is suffering from the effects of a stroke. The “realest” that I see Seyi, played by Ameen, is when he finally returns to Lagos to take his ailing father. About this time, Shay is probably gunning to stay in Lagos, because his life in New York has been shattered to pieces.

Others say about “The Price:”

“Feels lived-in and genuine”
– RogerEbert.com

“Delivers on its promise of sharing a piece of the immigrant experience that needs to be told”
– The Austin Chronicle

“[Onah] elevates a modest story to a grand scale thriller”
– The Moveable Fest

“A Brilliant Examination of the Pressure Linked to the Struggle
Between Familial Obligations & Crushing Personal Ambition”
– Aramidew Tinubu, Shadow and Act

Seyi tries hard to keep up at work, even participating in some illegal trading to present a portfolio to his superiors that will win him more respect. He is a smart man, and I wonder how he is so easily enticed in habits in which his white counterparts were participating. He hates the fact that his family lives in New Jersey, when he’s trying to make it on his own in the Big Apple. His mother tries to persuade him to pay more attention to his family, even though both she and he know about his father’s infidelities.

I don’t think the fact that he cozies up to his white girlfriend Liz helps him any. However, it can be seen as another prize to put him on the same level as his co-workers.

While one critic says that this film seems genuine, I don’t think that Seyi felt really comfortable and himself, until after his career derailed and he found his way back to Lagos with his father.

“The Price” is playing across the country beginning on November 10. It is playing in Chicago. For information about theatres and showtimes, visit www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/the-price.

 

 

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