Fatal Affair (2020)
You know when you've been having a movie for a long time in your computer just lying there among other collection of movies and when you finally come across it you find it hard to believe that the film has been lying there the whole time and you're just finding out now. Well, in my case, Fatal Affair was that kind of movie. Released in 2020 and directed by Peter Sullivan. The thrilling movie stars the talented duo of Nia Long and Omar Epps.
To begin with, the plot centers on the character Ellie (Nia Long), a successful lawyer whose seemingly perfect life with her architect husband, Marcus (Stephen Bishop), and her daughter Brittany who is in college, is disrupted. She gets to this point where she feels some sort of detachment in her marriage, this leads her to nearly having an affair with an old friend of hers back in college in the person of David (Omar Epps), who she encounters at her place of work.
It all started as a “one thing led to another” kind of incident which Ellie saw as a mistake that should never had happened on her path. But in the case of David, he refused to let it slide and instead became an obsession for him as he refuses to accept Ellie's rejection. We begin to see a cat and mouse game between this two as David begins to stalk Ellie and even sends threats towards her family.
Well, I've seen movies similar to this and the first mistake the victim usually makes is by trying to hide the truth from the spouse which does not really work out and it most cases things go upsidedown when the truth is eventually revealed. But luckily for Ellie it was the same in her case. The film didn't really possess much suspense. It didn't really take long for David, the antagonist in the movie, to reveal his other side.
There were times when the characters made certain decisions which didn't seem to make sense because it was obvious that it gave the antagonist the upper hand and opportunity to strike but yet they still went ahead with the decisions. Ellie tries her possible best to develop a level of strength despite her vulnerable state in the midst of the critical situation. It's like I could feel her restless state of mind having someone who knows your secret around the last set of people that you want to find out. And David did a great job in putting her at that tight corner.
Black movies have this theme in their movie that I really find interesting. Especially when it comes to relationship either between a married couple or those that are yet to which makes it possible for people in real life who are in those positions to easily relate with. Like I mentioned earlier, I seen similar movies, but most of them were the other way round. That is, it is usually the husband who gets himself in such situations, unlike this one were it was the wife. Some people are of the opinion that men cheat more, while other believe it to be the opposite. Anyway, I'll let that matter be as this is a movie review and not a debate session.
The film has its influences. It may be restricted though to certain children around a particular age bracket due to some certain scenes contained in it. I rate the movie 6/10. Thank you for reading through.