Shooting for the stars

25 April 2014 - 10:14 By Yolisa Mkele
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Skroef (Israel Makoe) and his gang are scary in Donovan Marsh's exciting skop, skiet and donner film 'iNumber Number'.
Skroef (Israel Makoe) and his gang are scary in Donovan Marsh's exciting skop, skiet and donner film 'iNumber Number'.
Image: Supplied

The last time a South African movie, complete with a locally sourced cast, made as big waves as this one on the international scene, MySpace was the coolest thing on the internet and M-Net "open time" still existed .

That movie was Gavin Wood's Tsotsi and its winning of the Academy Award for the best foreign film in 2005 had South Africans dreaming our film industry might soon birth a constellation of stars. Nearly a decade later and Donovan Marsh's heist drama iNumber Number could be the spark that reignites those hopes.

The movie tells the story of undercover policemen Chilli Ngcobo, played by S'dumo Msthali, and his partner Shoes, who is played by a well-fed Presley Chweneyagae. After being cheated out of a reward for busting a notorious ring of criminals, Ngcobo gets involved in a once-off heist, roping his reluctant partner into his plan.

What follows, plot wise, is pretty standard skop, skiet and donner movie fare. Things explode, people get shot and fights are had. iNumber Number is not cerebral, it's a thrill ride.

The movie really comes into its own with its use of language. Each character, especially the heist crew, brings a brand of tsotsi taal to the movie, which gives it a uniquely, and at times hilariously, authentic feel.

All, save one, of the characters have no trace of the kind of thespian accent that would rob the movie of its gritty, documentary-like feel. Hlubi Mboya's character was the only one whose persona didn't ring true. At times she sounded like a rich girl who had eloped with her gangster boyfriend to teach her parents a lesson.

The film is so brilliantly lit and shot that the viewer never gets the feeling the movie was made on a shoestring budget. In a way it feels a lot like a pair of worn designer jeans one buys for R1000.

Shot for "significantly less than $1-million" (Tsotsi was shot for $4-million), the rights to remake the movie have recently been sold to Universal Pictures. It will also be screened in 10 US cities in its original form.

While it missed out on an Oscar nod, this film could become the biggest thing to come out of South Africa since Tsotsi and Khulubuse Zuma's waistline. Its appeal is easy to see. iNumber Number features the first Zulu-speaking action hero since Shaka and has genuinely scary bad guys. It might have one or two problems but if you can forgive those, then you're in for a ripping good time.

iNumberNumber opens at cinemas today

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