Director Sarah Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan team to adapt author Monica Ali's award-winning novel about a young girl from Bangladesh who finds the spark in her soul slowly fading after traveling to London for an arranged marriage. As a child, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) was always told that she was a survivor. Now, as a young adult, she is leaving behind her mother and sister to start a new life in London's East End. Married to a man she has never met and relocated from her quaint village to a working-class Brick Lane neighborhood, the newlywed Nazneen does her best to be a devote...
Director Sarah Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan team to adapt author Monica Ali's award-winning novel about a young girl from Bangladesh who finds the spark in her soul slowly fading after traveling to London for an arranged marriage. As a child, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) was always told that she was a survivor. Now, as a young adult, she is leaving behind her mother and sister to start a new life in London's East End. Married to a man she has never met and relocated from her quaint village to a working-class Brick Lane neighborhood, the newlywed Nazneen does her best to be a devoted wife and loving mother. It's a lonely life, and as Nazneen's pompous, ineffectual husband, Chanu (Satish Kaushik), does his best to fit into British society, the bored housewife finds herself increasingly drawn to hotheaded neighbor Karim (Christopher Simpson). It isn't long before the relationship between Nazneen and Karim turns romantic, and in the wake of 9/11, the pair realize that they are intimately bound together by their political beliefs as well. Karim is fast becoming a radical and so, perhaps, is Nazneen. Meanwhile, back in Bangladesh, Nazneen's beloved sister Hasina (Zafreen) embarks on a series of life-altering adventures. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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The Last King of Scotland director Kevin MacDonald offers an alternate history of a post-war world where fascist ideology has prevailed by using the murderous exploits of Gestapo commander Klaus Barbie to explore the relationship that Western powers had with authoritarian governments in this documentary, which aims to encourage viewers to view the world as it is today in a whole new light. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In the week leading up to the one night of the year when chaos and trickery run rampant in the streets, two racially-divided, working-class Yorkshire communities become locked into a semi-comic collision course of cultural misunderstandings in the third and final installment of director Penny Woolcock's "Tina" trilogy. Tina (Kelli Hollis) is a single mother living in a predominately Caucasian Leeds housing project with her teenage son Tyler (Michael Taylor), twelve-year old daughter Kimberly (Holly Kenny), and young son Macauley (Jake Hayward). Kimberly has always been led to believe that h...
In the week leading up to the one night of the year when chaos and trickery run rampant in the streets, two racially-divided, working-class Yorkshire communities become locked into a semi-comic collision course of cultural misunderstandings in the third and final installment of director Penny Woolcock's "Tina" trilogy. Tina (Kelli Hollis) is a single mother living in a predominately Caucasian Leeds housing project with her teenage son Tyler (Michael Taylor), twelve-year old daughter Kimberly (Holly Kenny), and young son Macauley (Jake Hayward). Kimberly has always been led to believe that her father was dead, and when she finds out that he is in fact still living she storms across the park to a neighborhood primarily populated by Muslim Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. It's there that Kimberly makes the acquaintance of Asif (Qasim Akhtar), the rebellious younger brother of her mother's one-time love interest Immie (Ramon Tikaram) - who has recently emerged from an extended stint in prison. As Mischief Night draws near and both families are forced out of their neatly divided neighborhoods, Tina's drug-dealing father Don (Gwyne Hollis) will lovingly show grandson Tyler the tricks of the trade while Don's subordinate Quassim (Christopher Simpson) schools Asif to the ins-and-outs of pushing heroin. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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A pair of young men living in the 21st century relive the tales of one of their ancient forbearers in this historical drama. Kamran (Adam Echahly) is a 12-year-old boy of Iranian heritage whose older brother, Nader (Puya Behinaein), is slowly dying. Kamran and Nader's family puts a great value on preserving the oral history of their ancestors, and Nader is passing on this responsibility by telling his brother the story of their distant relative, the great scientist and poet Omar Khayyam (Bruno Lastra). In the 11th century, Omar is close friends with Hassan Sabbeh (Christopher Simpson), a pa...
A pair of young men living in the 21st century relive the tales of one of their ancient forbearers in this historical drama. Kamran (Adam Echahly) is a 12-year-old boy of Iranian heritage whose older brother, Nader (Puya Behinaein), is slowly dying. Kamran and Nader's family puts a great value on preserving the oral history of their ancestors, and Nader is passing on this responsibility by telling his brother the story of their distant relative, the great scientist and poet Omar Khayyam (Bruno Lastra). In the 11th century, Omar is close friends with Hassan Sabbeh (Christopher Simpson), a passionate Muslim warrior, and they are both infatuated with the lovely Darya (Marie Espinosa). However, in time Omar and Hassan's paths in life diverge; Omar joins the court of the Sultan Malikshah (Moritz Bleibtreu) and uses his considerable wisdom to study mathematics and the stars, while Hassan succumbs to his rage and forms a cult of killers known as the Assassins. The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam was the first feature film for Iranian-American director Kayvan Mashayekh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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In the not-so-distant future, a married man investigates a counterfeiter and ends up the perpetrator of an ethical crime in Code 46, the latest film from prolific British director Michael Winterbottom. Set against the backdrop of a technologically advanced Shanghai, where people are only allowed to travel between countries with official passports called "papelles," the film charts the efforts of Seattle native William (Tim Robbins) to get to the bottom of a contraband-papelle operation within the walls of a high-tech company that manufactures them. There he finds Maria (Samantha Morton), an...
In the not-so-distant future, a married man investigates a counterfeiter and ends up the perpetrator of an ethical crime in Code 46, the latest film from prolific British director Michael Winterbottom. Set against the backdrop of a technologically advanced Shanghai, where people are only allowed to travel between countries with official passports called "papelles," the film charts the efforts of Seattle native William (Tim Robbins) to get to the bottom of a contraband-papelle operation within the walls of a high-tech company that manufactures them. There he finds Maria (Samantha Morton), an enigmatic young woman who may or may not be selling the passports on the black market. William has a brief affair with Maria, which, despite his attempts to return home, causes him to become embroiled in an even bigger controversy in Shanghai. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
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Second Generation stars Parminder Nagra as the free-thinking daughter in a traditional Indian family who has torn herself away from the restrictive traditions of her parents. A family emergency brings her back into the fold, where the entire family must contend with how their world sometimes is at odds with the modern London world they inhabit. In addition to the struggles with her family, the daughter is caught in a love triangle involving her British fiancé and her old flame. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Originally telecast in the United Kingdom, the two-part miniseries White Teeth was based on Zadie Smith's 2000 bestseller about the perils of cultural assimilation in modern day North London. Taking place in the years 1974 to 1992 and set in the melting-pot community of Willesden Green, the story focuses on three different families. The Jamaican-English Archie Jones (Phil Davis) is a professional envelope-folder, while his wife, Clara (Naomie Harris), is a lapsed Jehovah's Witness. Archie's old army buddy Samad Iqbal (Om Puri) is a Bengalese waiter who hails from Bangladesh, also the home c...
Originally telecast in the United Kingdom, the two-part miniseries White Teeth was based on Zadie Smith's 2000 bestseller about the perils of cultural assimilation in modern day North London. Taking place in the years 1974 to 1992 and set in the melting-pot community of Willesden Green, the story focuses on three different families. The Jamaican-English Archie Jones (Phil Davis) is a professional envelope-folder, while his wife, Clara (Naomie Harris), is a lapsed Jehovah's Witness. Archie's old army buddy Samad Iqbal (Om Puri) is a Bengalese waiter who hails from Bangladesh, also the home country of his sharp-tongued spouse, Alsana (Archie Panjabi). And the Malfen family, headed by Joyce and Marcus (Geraldine James, Robert Bathurst), are fiercely dedicated charter members of the Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious Islamic Nation (or KEVIN for short). Deftly combining comedy, drama, melodrama, and pathos, the Dickensian interactions and interrelationships among the three families manage to accommodate a variety of dizzying plot convolutions involving disenchanted youngsters, racial prejudice, social pretensions, cult worship, misguided animal activists, a genetically modified mouse, a Nazi war criminal, and a bizarre but brilliant kidnapping scheme. In the United States, White Teeth first aired May 11, 2003, as part of the PBS Masterpiece Theatre anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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