Brick Lane (2007)

Director:

Sarah Gavron

Writers:

Monica Ali (novel)
Laura Jones (writer)

Release Date:

16 November 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young Bangladeshi woman, Nazneem, arrives in 1980s London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home...

Plot Keywords:

Arranged Marriage | Bangladesh | September 11 2001 | Pond | Dysfunctional Marriage

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Tannishtha Chatterjee	...	Nazneen Ahmed
Satish Kaushik	...	Chanu Ahmed
Christopher Simpson	...	Karim
Naeema Begum	...	Rukshana 'Shahna' Ahmed
Lana Rahman	...	Bibi Ahmed
Lalita Ahmed	...	Mrs. Islam
Harvey Virdi	...	Razia
Zafreen	...	Hasina
Harsh Nayyar	...	Dr. Azad
Abdul Nlephaz Ali	...	Tariq
Bijal Chandaria	...	Shefali
Mohammed Ahsan	...	Meeting Chairman
Josh Ali	...	Meeting Secretary
Raha Ahmed	...	First Speaker at Meeting
Abed Hakim	...	Second Speaker at Meeting

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and brief strong language.

Runtime:

102 min | Canada:101 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

UK | India

Language:

English | Bengali

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A | Ireland:15A | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Brick Lane, Shoreditch, London, England, UK

Company:

Film4

Quotes:

Nazneen Ahmed: No one told me there are different kinds of love. The kind that starts deep and slowly wears away; that seems you will never use it up and then one day it is finished. Then there is the kind you do not notice at first but which adds a little bit to itself every day like an oyster makes a pearl, grain by grain, a jewel from the sand. That is the kind I have come to know.

Movie Connections:

Features Brief Encounter (1945)

Soundtrack:

Omar Sonar Bangla

I will now run out and buy the book!

My sister, one of my best sources for literature that doesn't disappoint, told me that Brick Lane was one of her all time favorite books. I didn't get to it, but I did get to the movie.

After cinematically traveling to India via "Before the Rains" a couple of weeks ago, Brick Lane took me to Bangledesh. With continuous flashbacks to her home country, I followed Nazneem,a young Bangladeshi woman to the London ghetto in the early 1980's.

As was common in her culture, Nazneem left home at age sixteen to pursue an arranged marriage She has two daughters, who we meet as young teens, one of whom is as rebellious and difficult as any American teenager we've known (or been). Nazneem is dreadfully unhappy in her new life partly because she misses her sister back home. The other reasons have something to do with never having lived life on her own terms, losing her first born and a touch of early mother loss, too.

Let's just say that the different manifestations of love are examined in Brick Lane through the experience of Nazneem. How her heart opens and how she matures is unexpected. Without giving too much away, there is a drop dead gorgeous character named Karim who has something to do with it. Like a good book, and I suspect this is one, there are delicious surprises. Characters endear us in the end that we couldn't stand at first and others we admire, fall from grace. The story is rich.

So, I'll be getting my copy of Brick Lane by Monica Ali and will let you know how it measures up to this beautiful movie.

Weeks can go by without a worthwhile movie to see, but to have Before the Rains and Brick Lane in the same month. Now, that's a gift.