The romance at the heart of Brick Lane never comes alive. Chatterjee is doleful and weepy, Simpson enervated.
Comment
11/16/07
Brick Lane (2008)
64
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:7
Rotten:4
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Frustratingly slow-moving, but ultimately saved by Chatterjee's solid acting and Gavron's gentle patience.
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... [More]
Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum
Director: Sarah Gavron
Reviews for Brick Lane
1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top CriticGavron's movie finds an unfashionably gentle, human optimism in the face of all this, and a sympathetic performance from Chatterjee makes it plausible.
11/16/07
Top CriticRich 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.
11/15/07
Top CriticThe kind of meaningless middlebrow sludge that passes for “quality movie-making” in some of the more conservative sectors of the British film industry
11/15/07
Top CriticDon'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.
11/15/07
Top CriticThe daily grind of a Brick Lane Bangladeshi is credibly brought to life in this sensitive and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel.
11/14/07
Top CriticGavron cleverly outlines the closed-in boundaries of Nazneen’s Brick Lane.
11/14/07
Top CriticBrick Lane is about characters who have depth and reality, who change and learn, who have genuine feelings. And it keeps on surprising us, right to the end.
06/27/08
Top CriticCertainly touching, even heart-rending at times, and it mostly steers clear of the didacticism and sentimentality its subject matter often invites. But it never takes the full measure of its modest heroine, and makes her world a bit too small.
06/20/08
Top CriticBrick Lane is beautifully acted and written (by Abi Morgan and Laura Jones) so its themes are touched upon glancingly rather than with full force.
09/17/07
Top CriticDepth of character, such a distinctive quality of Ali's book, is sacrificed for simpler strokes and shallower dimensions, with an undue emphasis placed by helmer Sarah Gavron and lenser Robbie Ryan on gorgeous pictures.
09/13/07
Top Critic1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Latest News for Brick Lane
January 23, 2009:
A movie whose visuals are lovely to behold and lyrically awash in sensuality and desire, but sets the lives of women back at least a few centuries. 
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January 19, 2009:
A movie whose visuals are lovely to behold and lyrically awash in sensuality and desire, but sets the lives of women back at least a few centuries.
More...
June 19, 2008:
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This week at the movies, we've got wacky spies (Get Smart, starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway) and silly self-help specialists (The Love Guru starring Mike Myers and... More...
June 18, 2008:
Arranged marriage at center of cross-cultural drama set in London.
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