Joss Barratt/Sony Pictures Classics
Tannishtha Chatterjee as Nazneen in "Brick Lane," set in London.
Set in London’s “Banglatown” community of Bangladeshi Muslims in the days before and after 9/11, “Brick Lane” chronicles the slow self-liberation of yet another unhappily married heroine.
Video
Movie Critic John Beifuss reviews four new films, "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," Pineapple Express" and "Brick Lane." Watch »
Joss Barratt/Sony Pictures Classics
Tannishtha Chatterjee as Nazneen in "Brick Lane," set in London.
The story of a beautiful young Bangladeshi woman, Nazneen, who arrives in 1980s London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home, for an arranged marriage ...
Rating: PG-13 for some sexuality and brief strong language
Length: 101 minutes
Released: June 20, 2008 Limited
Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Harsh Nayyar, Harvey Virdi
Director: Sarah Gavron
Writer: Monica Ali, Abi Morgan
The slant is feminist, but the most interesting character is not the saintly and long-suffering Nazneen (beautifully played by Tannishtha Chatterjee) but her husband, Chanu (Satish Kaushik), who repeatedly loses promotions to less-qualified Anglos.
Chanu is introduced as a repulsively overweight heavy-breather and self-deluding would-be Brit, with a short temper and a pretentious interest in Thackeray, Chaucer and the Brontes; as the film progresses, the tension between his desire for acceptance and his realization of his failure becomes the movie’s most intriguing character arc.
When Chanu speaks of the 18th-century philosopher Hume, his enthusiasm seems genuine, and his wife’s disinterest makes her seem cold.
Directed by Sarah Gavron, from a script by Laura Jones and Abi Morgan, the movie — adapted from the acclaimed and popular 2003 novel by Monica Ali that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Britain’s top fiction award — is familiar in theme but distinctive in detail. Unfortunately, the pretty, textured pictures — with their sophisticated lighting and focus effects suggest not struggle but a magazine fashion layout, even when the woman in the image is sitting at a secondhand sewing machine.
- |
Comments » 0
Be the first to post a comment!
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.