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 Director
:Damien O'Donnell
Starring
: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge, Archie Panjabi,
Emil Marwa, Chris Bisson, Jimi Mistry, Raji James.
Picture
1.85:1 Anamorphic, DD 5.1, Single-Layer, Keep Case
Running
Time : 92 mins
The
story:
A
comedy of families, a chip shop... and a very randy dog.
George
Khan is a tough father, proud Pakistani and chip shop owner.
He is bringing up his family of seven children in a cramped
terraced house in Salford, North of England. The year is
1971 and the family are finding life tough. George wants
the best for his kids but the idea of arranged marriages
and other Pakistani customs does not appeal to his children.
Meenah prefers swapping his sari for a football shirt, Tariq
is the smooth-talking ladies man at the local nightclub
and Sajid (and his annoying anorak) has somehow managed
to avoid circumcision! This is the story of what happens
when two cultures collide within one family..
The
summary:
Being
a British made film with no big-name American star to prop
it up (Notting Hill anyone?) you could be forgiven for approaching
this film with no uncertain apprehension. For those of you
that haven't even heard of the film, this started life as
a successful West End play and went to to win high acclaim
at the BAFTA's. I'm not sure quite sure if this really does
rate as one of the best British comedies of all time, but
it does have it moments. This is essentially the story of
a Pakistani family consisting of the rather one dimensional
George Khan (who proceeds about his merry way, beating common
sense into his family and gaining very little sympathy)
and his young modern family who prefer to adopt a more Western
approach to life.
Billed
as a comedy, it certainly has it's share of laughs (most
of which are sex-based cheap laughs and wont appeal to the
political correctness brigade) but it also has a more serious
message with its domestic violence and abuse amongst the
multiracial family. As per usual though, the balance is
never quite right - perhaps this is trying too hard on the
drama front for it to be an out and out comedy, or maybe
the drama is filling in too many gaps between the laughs?
Well acted and directed, this is indeed a good film, but
with a good kick up the backside you feel it could have
been even better.
A
nice DVD package from FilmFour that shows how a little tender
loving care can do wonders for a film. There's no complains
with the transfer for either the Anamorphic picture or the
5.1 soundtrack and there's a nice selection of extras to
choose from. In fact the inclusion of the directors commentary
and deleted scenes would have up until recently, rated this
as one of the best UK discs! Sad but true..
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