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.
Brick Lane (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 92
Fresh: 59
Rotten:33
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Consensus: Frustratingly slow-moving, but ultimately saved by Chatterjee's solid acting and Gavron's gentle patience.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for some sexuality and brief strong language.
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Genre: Dramas
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...
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
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Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum
Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum, Lana Rahman, Harvey Virdi, Lalita Ahmed, Zafreen
Director: Sarah Gavron
Director: Sarah Gavron
Screenwriter: Abi Morgan, Laura Jones
Producer: Alison Owen, Christopher Collins
Composer: Jocelyn Pook
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Reviews for Brick Lane
Tannishtha Chatterjee perfectly captures the emotional awakening of shy heroine Nazneen.
Although well-acted and heartfelt, it provokes shrugged shoulders rather than the tears it’s clearly striving for.
The romance at the heart of Brick Lane never comes alive. Chatterjee is doleful and weepy, Simpson enervated.
Gavron's movie finds an unfashionably gentle, human optimism in the face of all this, and a sympathetic performance from Chatterjee makes it plausible.
Quietly effective, acted with resource and directed with the kind of patient skill it needs.
The film is full of fabrics and shimmer and embroiderings of light and colour, giving a slender story the shy blush of art.
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.
The kind of meaningless middlebrow sludge that passes for “quality movie-making” in some of the more conservative sectors of the British film industry
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.
Brick Lane is beautifully shot and superbly acted but the story is slow-moving and ultimately rather uneventful.
The daily grind of a Brick Lane Bangladeshi is credibly brought to life in this sensitive and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel.
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.
Gavron cleverly outlines the closed-in boundaries of Nazneen’s Brick Lane.
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.
Latest News for Brick Lane
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June 18, 2008:
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