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MOVIES / IN CINEMAS / BRICK LANE
Brick Lane

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Brick Lane (2008)

64%
58%
83%
N/A
N/A
64 %
Reviews Counted: 80 Fresh: 51  Rotten:29 Average Rating: 6.1/10
 
Consensus: Frustratingly slow-moving, but ultimately saved by Chatterjee's solid acting and Gavron's gentle patience.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for some sexuality and brief strong language

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Theatrical Release: 16-11-2007

Synopsis: Nazneen’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of seventeen,. Forced into an arranged marriage to an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s East End. In this new world, pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her... Nazneen’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of seventeen,. Forced into an arranged marriage to an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s East End. In this new world, pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her existence – and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.

Told from birth that she must not fight her fate, Nazneen submits, devoting her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until the day that Karim, a hot-headed local man, bursts into her life.

Against a background of escalating racial tension, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life. Set in multicultural Britain, Brick Lane is a truly contemporary story of love, cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit. --© Sony Pictures Classics
[More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum, Lana Rahman

Director: Sarah Gavron
Screenwriter: Abi Morgan, Laura Jones
Producer: Alison Owen, Christopher Collins
Composer: Jocelyn Pook

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
2/5

Monica Ali’s sensitive sprawling text about a Bangledeshi wife (Chatterjee) forced into an east London marriage gets a sanded-down blandification as it makes its lurch onto the big screen.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Matthew Turner
thelondonpaper
Ratings Image
2/5

Underwhelming.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Anthony Quinn
Independent
Ratings Image
3/5

Tannishtha Chatterjee perfectly captures the emotional awakening of shy heroine Nazneen.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Sun Online
Ratings Image
3/5

Although well-acted and heartfelt, it provokes shrugged shoulders rather than the tears it’s clearly striving for.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Daily Mirror [UK]
Ratings Image
N/A

The romance at the heart of Brick Lane never comes alive. Chatterjee is doleful and weepy, Simpson enervated.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Gavron's movie finds an unfashionably gentle, human optimism in the face of all this, and a sympathetic performance from Chatterjee makes it plausible.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/16/07
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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Ratings Image
4/5

Quietly effective, acted with resource and directed with the kind of patient skill it needs.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Derek Malcolm
This is London
Ratings Image
N/A

The film is full of fabrics and shimmer and embroiderings of light and colour, giving a slender story the shy blush of art.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
Ratings Image
3.5/5

Rich and subtle in its characterisation, Brick Lane is an enlightening tale about the breadth and depth of ordinary lives, how they intersect with history, and where they remain hidden away.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Matthew De Abaitua
Channel 4 Film
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Ratings Image
1/5

The kind of meaningless middlebrow sludge that passes for “quality movie-making” in some of the more conservative sectors of the British film industry

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Kevin Maher
Times [UK]
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Ratings Image
3/5

Don't expect too many surprises from this low-key story of a Bangladeshi woman who learns to stand on her own two feet after years of stultifying arranged marriage.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Neil Smith
BBC
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Ratings Image
3/5

Brick Lane is beautifully shot and superbly acted but the story is slow-moving and ultimately rather uneventful.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/15/07
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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4/5

The daily grind of a Brick Lane Bangladeshi is credibly brought to life in this sensitive and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/14/07
Anna Smith
Empire Magazine
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Ratings Image
3/5

Monica Ali’s best-selling debut novel about life in London’s Bangladeshi quarter gets a sensitive treatment from director Sarah Gavron, deftly condensing its sprawling narrative without sacrificing colour or texture.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/14/07
Neil Smith
Total Film
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Ratings Image
3/6

Gavron cleverly outlines the closed-in boundaries of Nazneen’s Brick Lane.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/14/07
Cath Clarke
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

It's a hard heart that isn't immersed by this delicately told tale.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/14/07
Matt Bochenski
Little White Lies
Ratings Image
4/5

Based on Monica Ali's bestselling novel, this is an insightful look at a woman searching across cultural barriers for a place to belong. Not only is it a strong story, but it's great to see such an involving film set in London's Asian-Muslim community.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/06/07
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image
B+

Small, intimate and achingly modern, Brick Lane is a lovely study involving both one woman's awakening and the inevitability of cross-cultural pollination.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/01/08
Tom Long
Detroit News
Ratings Image
N/A

Brick Lane is a grown-up movie. It recognizes that there are different kinds of love and that some of them don't involve happily-ever-afters.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/31/08
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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