East Is East Review

East Is East Reviews:

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/041400east-film-review.html

Radio Times: http://www.radiotimes.com/film/vtms/east-is-east

Film 4: http://www.film4.com/reviews/1999/east-is-east

Conclusion: East is East is a very good film, it portrays and challenges many different themes throughout its which help it appeal to a large target audience. It has helped many actors become hugely successful and go on to really further and develop their career. The film is a comedy drama starring Om Puri, Linda Bassett and Jimi Mistry. Where a traditional Pakistani father attempts to impose strict religious barriers on his children such as arranged marriages. However this being the 1970s in England they have very different ideas this creates tension and causes them to rebel and ensures mayhem.

My Review:

East is East was a comedy which balanced humour with a serious streak, it won awards and the hearts of many different audiences and become one Film Four’s most successful films, it is set in the early 1970’s in Salford, Manchester. It is based on George the father whoever it also shows the problems which the family has to go through, they are either struggling to fit into a British life or they are constantly rebelling against their own religion. They have a devoted Pakistani father who is very dominant and a catholic mother which means they are constantly being pushed to do everything which their father says however they quite often just rebel against this. For example in the beginning scene the eldest son was forced to marry someone however he rebelled against this ran out of the ceremony and this may had also caused him to turn homosexual. He is then disowned by his father and also leads to the rebellious acts of the other children. The children dream of the teenage freedom and feeling which British people their age have as opposed to the Asian restrictions they are currently facing, they are resistant against it and the family constantly lieing and breaking the rules ensues they get to try this. The film is funny, charming and refreshing however the treatment of the domestic violence theme is a sour note for the film however overall is a very good film. 

My Beautiful Launderette Reviews

My Beautiful Launderette Reviews:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/443819/index.html

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/mybeautifullaundrette.php

http://www2.eufs.org.uk/films/my_beautiful_laundrette.html

These reviews are very similar in terms that they all describe the same sort of aspects. For example it explains the synopsis of the film, the main characters and the influence which they have on the film itself, all of the different reviews explain the huge impact which Thatcherism has and how during this period of time the citizens of the UK had to work extremely hard in terms of manual labour to try and reach the top. It also goes on to explain how Omar and Johnnies passionate sexual relationship is very unique and symbolic because for the time it was very unique for a Pakistani and a British person to have a relationship however this goes one step further because they are two men which is even more unique. One of the particular goes into a lot more depth about how it was actually filmed it was originally shot on 16mm, it was so well received by critics at the Edinburgh Film Festival that it was internationally distributed for cinema on 35mm

My Review:

My Beautiful Launderette (Stephen Fears, 1985) is a very unique and up and coming film, it is constantly challenging and breaking boundaries which British Asian films had never gone before which explains how innovative the director Stephen Fears and the producers are trying to be.

The film is set in 1985 and it takes a huge in depth look of how the Asian communities and British communities are portrayed during this time and how they constantly clashed. It is challenging the problems which both different types of communities have faced under Thatcherism. It is ground breaking because of how in depth the film goes into issues such as: sexuality, race, class and generational difference, which ultimately appeals to a large target audience. For example Johnny and Omar have a huge sexual and passionate gay relationship which is breaking many boundaries because many audiences hadn’t seen a gay relationship at the time, however this pushes it even further because they see a relationship between a Pakistani and a British person which challenges it even more and confuses the issue between them all even more which has caused much outrage between the target audiences.

The renovated laundrette too plays a crucial role. It is a place of comfort for Omar and Johnny, kind of like a home they built and decorated. The customers are amused by the beauty of it. A fascinated Nasser dances with his girlfriend while the customers eagerly wait outside. Thus, it becomes a place of comfort for many and it symbolises the Thatcherism era because if you work hard you will be successful.

In conclusion the whole film is very ground breaking and has many different symbolic meanings which are displayed throughout the whole film and possibly it could have contributed to creating more conflict between British and Asian audiences because the features of the film are very easy to replicate in real life during the 1980’s.