The Hundred foot journey, English Hollywood Food based Movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * * 1/2
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#TheHundredFootJourney(English) Rating: * * * ½ This
cultural gastronomedy is passionate about it’s main ingredient- the culinary
talents of it’s subjects but not as enamored by the people inhabiting it’s frame.
Deliciously enticing though the visuals may be, it does leave you hungry at the
end of it- wishing that it could have been a more ‘meaningful’ journey instead
of merely ‘Food’ heavy! #HelenMirren
#LasseHallstrom #OmPuri #ManishDayal #CharlotteLeBon #WaltDisneyStudiosMotionPictures
#DreamWorksPictures #RelianceEntertainment #ParticipantMedia #ImageNation #AmblinEntertainment #HarpoFilms #StevenSpielberg
#OprahWinfrey #JulietBlake. #AllianceFrancaise
English Film Review
Johnson Thomas
A delicacy worth
savoring!
Film:The Hundred Foot Journey
Cast: Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal,Om Puri,Charlotte
Le Bon,Juhi Chawla
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Rating: * * * ½
This culture clashing gastronomic comedy based on
the best selling novel by Richard C Morais has been produced by Hollywood’s
biggest names, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake and directed by
celebrated director Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, The
Shipping News), starring Oscar winner Helen Mirren and internationally renowned
Om Puri. So the stakes are high and the expectations even more so.
One thing you can say about Director Lasse
Hallstrom’s efforts in cinema is that his art is always strong on sensory
appeal. That’s true of this film too. Food plays a major role here as it is the
main catalyst for the culture clash that takes place between two restaurant
owners, one- Madame Mallory(Mirren) who runs the one Michelin star awarded elegant, expensive and inimitably French ‘Le
Saul Pleureur(The Weeping Willow)’ and
the other, being set-up by the riot hit refugees from India, the Kadam family
led by the widowed father(Om Puri) and his children, one of whom is a talented
Cook, Hassan(Manish Dayal). The initial skirmishes between the two leads to
sabotage and eventually the two arrive at an understanding. By then the Kadam
family’s cook turns cordon bleu and jumps at the offer to work in Paris leaving
behind a love interest, a sous chef, Margeurite(Charlotte Le Bon) and a
disappointed father.
The laughs are scored consistently what with all the
underhand attacks being made on each other.
She’s the Mistress of Gallic understatement, stubborn, hoity-toity and
biting in her repartee while he is easy going, jovial and optimistic. Their
diametrically opposite personalities make for interesting clashes. The writing is fluent but not fleshed out
enough, though. It’s not very clear how the Kadam family fares financially
after their star chef’s desertion and neither do we get to know the real
financial implications of setting up a restaurant in a remote region(Shot on 35mm in
luminous, mostly in the Midi-Pyrenees) several hundred
kilometers away from Paris. Everything comes a little too easy here. Kadam sets
his eyes on the broken down place by accident but is quick to fancy it as a suitable place to set
up his dream restaurant. He also has no problem coughing up the dough for it.
His kids , of course, think otherwise.
Helen
Mirren and Om Puri set the ball rolling with their sparks and Manish Dayal and
Charlotte le Bon bring on the romance. A mellow score by A.R. Rahman, the bucolic unadulterated
beauty of the village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, irresistible world of
culinary sophistication, Bastille Day fireworks, gorgeous nighttime views of
Paris, production design by David Gropman also add teeth to the engagement.
But what entices the most is the manner in which the
food is displayed and served – the tempting visual buffet cinematographed so
sensuously by Linus (American Hustle)Sandgren. Therein lies the film’s
mainstay. While the drama between the two cultures and their style of cooking
is interesting enough, it doesn’t get you as excited as the food with all it’s
east-west variants, deliberately designed to envelope you in it’s sensory
appeal. The tension in the film surrounds the two main leads and their
accomplished theatrics but the rest is just a little too soft and tasty yes,
but not really all exciting!
Director Lassee Hallström brings audiences as
close to the amazing food featured on screen as he can without letting you
taste it yourself...
Food mentioned in the film- Indian and French cuisine served at Maison Mumbai and Le Saul Pleureur
mouthwatering béchamel sauce , tandoori goat, fluffy omelette, mushrooms, steaming red curry , perfectly plated pigeon with truffles. Foie Grass, Beef bourguignon, delicious vindaloos,Biryani,chicken tandoori
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