Films: Brick Lane

Brick Lane (2007)
Dir. Sarah Gavron
Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Christopher Simpson,Satish Kaushik, Naeema Begum,

It's always risky business treading the path of a well-known and well-loved book in the movies. However, Monica Ali's Brick Lane is brought to beautiful, sorrowful and hopeful visual excellence in the film adaptation. It is a film of newcomers, which only adds to its raw and honest quality. Gavron's directorial eye produces the film's breathtaking overall image, full of colour and light, and a kind of rough earthiness.

Chatterjee gives an amazing performance as the young mother of two daughters sent to England to marry an older man when she was just 17. She rarely needs to speak for the amount of expression she has in her eyes. The film is intercut with scenes shot in the lush, green Bangladeshi village of her youth, which is a vivid contrast to the red brick and market stalls of Brick Lane. Mrs Ahmed is stifled by her husband, who Kaushik plays in such a way that means you can't dislike him for long, and the wonderful stories of home that her sister writes in letters. The nephew of a clothing producer, Karim, comes into Mrs Ahmed's life and she is suddenly allowed to feel and be loved. However, on a backdrop of the events of 9/11, the pressure on muslims in Brick Lane becomes unbearable. Simpson (Karim) is brilliant; both innocent and forceful in his passion for Islam.

The film is beautiful and the characters are all portrayed wonderfully. Ali's novel comes out unscathed; in fact, it is literally brought to life. The story is so well constructed that the viewer is constantly in tandem as to how they want it to conclude. And when it comes to the conclusion, it is also perfect.

My rating: ***** 5 stars
Recommendation: Buy the DVD. It will become a firm favourite. Honestly, you won't regret it.

Films: Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis

Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis (2008)
Dir. Dany Boon
Cast: Dany Boon, Kad Merad, Zoé Félix, Anne Marivin

This film has taken over the French box-office this spring, a complete surprise success. Dany Boon is well known in France for his stand-up comedy, and he moves seamlessly onto film here. He brings his unique brand of visual and coloquial humour to the film, and his cast are absolutely brilliant.

The story follows the life of Phillipe Abrams (Merad) who has recetly been forced to move from the warm, beautiful South of France to Nord-pas-de-Calais for his job as manager of the local Post Office. He and his wife prepare for the worst - freezing conditions, simple people and definately no fun. However, the group that Phillipe meets, are warm and welcoming, no frills, laid back kind of people who become his best friends. They life a life full of riotous laughs and ridiculous situations that must be kept from Phillipe's wife who has become much more loving in the light of her husband's 'traumatic' new work situation.

The film is full of laughter, visual and verbal gags - even the title plays with the differences between the French accent in the north and south - and clichés about the north-south divide. It is very easy to watch, even if your French is not that good. The wordplay is hilarious and perhaps some of the funniest scenes revolve around a misunderstanding of the spoken word. However, it is during the four-minutes it takes for Phillipe and Antoine (Boon) to get completely plastered while doing the daily post round, that you completely fall in love with the whole film.

Rating: ***** 5/5
Recommendation: Try and pick up as much French as you can, but just enjoy the superb humour and warmth of this wonderful gem!

Films: Modern Love

Modern Love (2008)
Dir. Stéphane Kanzandijan
Cast: Alexandra Lamy, Stéphane Rousseau, Bérénice Bejo, Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval, Clotilde Courau, Stéphane Dubac

It's a French film with an English title. Why not? Taking the format of a film within a film, Modern Love follows the almost excrutiating rollercoaster of relationships of three couples. The first, which wins the film's most laughs, are the odd on-screen coupling of Marianne (Lamy) and Vincent (Rousseau). They sing, dance and sign their way through some brilliant cinema moments. Love conquers all and they literally ride off into the sunset.

The two 'real-life' couples are made up of Eric (Laval), the author of the film-in-the-film, and Marie, a woman who is so bizarre it's hard to see why Eric is so infatuated with her, and the bouncy, boyish Elsa (Bejo) and gorgeous Jérome (Dubac). There is a certain amount of characters crossing paths - though nothing to equal the likes of Love Actually - and neither couple ends up particularly happy.

Eric and Marie's strange relationship comes from a past which is never really explained, and what does go on between them is verging on the slightly weird. Eric is loveable however, as a tortured and love-struck writer. Elsa and Jérome have some very funny scenes but also never make a very believable couple.

I found myself just waiting for the next Marianne and Vincent musical number, which seemed to be the most enjoyable and actually most realistic. The finale is brilliant. If it's too complicated to say, why not sign how you feel? All in all, the film is funny and watchable, but it is the interspersed light-hearted songs that keep the audience from wondering whether all relationships in France are built on such disturbingly rocky foundations.

Rating: *** 3/5
Reccommendations: It's a quirky, French Rom-Com. You won't quite know how to react. Give it a try!