East is East (1999)
Set in Salford in 1971, the story of a Pakistani chip shop owner, his English wife and the cultural difficulties experienced by the family.
Yet another movie hailed as the proof that British Cinema is alive and well. And yet another movie where the FilmFour logo heralds 90-odd minutes of exasperation and feeble drama. The acting is fine, the director seems like a nice bloke on the DVD commentary, and the heart of the movie is more or less in the right place.
Wait. I called it a MOVIE. This is a FILM. It plods along at a constant pace, the action is framed for TV proportions, the lighting is the same all the way through. So don’t expect anything cinematic. The drama itself is passable, although I grew up in the same environment depicted here (minus the Asian aspect) and at about the same time, and none of this rang true. And none of it was particularly funny either.
The one impressive moment is the use of the old kids series The Clangers as backdrop to one scene. Oh, and there’s one scene set to an old McGuinness-Flint tune that I always liked. If you want to sit through the rest of the cliches on show just for that, it’s your life.
Rating: 
[imdb]166175[/imdb]
