Review of Brick Lane (2007) by Shane B — 14 Dec 2007

This should be called "Brick Lame" what a dissapointment! I haven't read the book, but have heard people who have loved it. Was really looking forward to this and love seeing London movies (where I live).

.but the film...boring....potentially a great subject area, excellent contemporary issues to explore (first gen immigrant adjusting to living in Britain, muslim society, post 9/11, forced marriage, culture clashes etc) but poor acting (the husband so annoyed me, you could almost see him reading his lines), lack of emotional engagement with the audience (despite the potentially heart rending issues I dont feel any emotional attachment to any of them) unconvincing.

..lets down the book big time. I compare it to "Beautiful thing" which was a fantastic film dealing with similar issues (life on a London council estate) but he characters on that film were fantastic, hilarious, real, your felt for them and remembered them.

...btw, why does this say 2008? I saw it last month (2007!)? And why can't they find a poster for this movie? Gosh, I sound like a complaining old ninny now....anyway, avoid, avoid, avoid...lets hope someone picks it up one day and does a good job of it (Ang Lee, are you listening?).