Australia

English (U/A)
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters
Director: Baz Luhrmann

With Kidman and Jackman proving a hot couple the merry-go-round ride around Australia gives you no time to get dizzy. Though the film won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, the blend of classic filmmaking and fantasy are captivating enough.

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The Secret of the Grain

This film tells a simple story on the importance of a family and the survival route taken by a North African immigrant and his family in the French port city of Sete.

When Slimane (Habib), a 61-year-old dockyard worker loses his job he wanted to test his entrepreneurial skills. He decides to turn his freighter into an eatery with his former-wife’s mullet couscous as the main menu. However, this does not go well with both his ex-wife and his current mistress. In the midst of this, the bureaucrats want their own piece of cake. It is then his mistress’ daughter steps in to bail him out by organising a sacrificial party for potential investors and the city’s big shots.

The fun in watching this film is the raw and realism look to the film. The dinner scenes are so real that you can feel the under current in the protagonists characters. Winning four Cesars, which is the equivalent of the Oscar in France, the film also manages to be both a tribute to women and a cultural commentary. The women in this film are portrayed as strong as the men. In fact, sometimes more passionate than the men.

The long extended shots make the film extremely slow moving. But after sitting through each scene you’ll feel that you have not wasted your time over them.

This powerful tale on food, fortitude and emotions bring back the feel good factor in human relationship
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French (With English subtitle)
Cast: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache
Director: Adellatif Kechiche

Outsourced

This modern-day West meets East romantic comedy based on IT outsourcing is charming as it appeals to the saying ‘love not only conquers boundaries but even globalisation’.

A US novelty customer care trainer Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton), known for his dislikes of outsourcing, is sent to India to train his replacement and a new batch of recruits. Anderson is assaulted by the cultural difference in the chaotic Mumbai even as he tries to make ‘the Indians’ talks fast like the Americans, so that he could return home straight away.

However, when he met his team of unusual yet pleasant Indian workers, including his replacement, the charming Asha (Ayesha Dharker), Todd realises that he too has a lot to learn – not only about Indians but about himself. The film is a crowd pleaser with a memo attached. Outsourced touched the sensitive issue of outsourcing in the face of globalisation with a soft focal point. The causes and effects of outsourcing to both the US and India is presented in a loveable perspective.

Although the film starts off at a snail’s pace with countless false comedy, the story warms up a great deal when Todd and Asha go on a brief business trip together. Sometimes the film is unsure of its path, balancing between exploitation of the global employee and the commemoration of cultural diversity.

But unlike the usual pardesi-desi kind of love story in which extremes of the two are always there Outsourced approach is to play everything small and keep the human aspect at the foremost. A charming film about preconceptions, clash of traditions and love, Outsourced gives us an immaculate view of romance inside the call centres.
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English (U)
Cast: Asif Basra, Ayesha Dharker, Josh Hamilton
Director: John Jeffcoat