East Is East Review
by Michael Dequina (twotrey AT juno DOT com)April 16th, 2000
_East_Is_East_ (R) *** 1/2 (out of ****)
Children rebelling against strict parents is common comedic fodder on television and the big screen, so it's a tribute to the makers of this British comedy that an idea as familiar as that is made fresh. Part of that has to do with the point of view, which is from an Anglo-Pakistani family, the Khans, in '70s Britain. The seven children born to Pakistani George (Om Puri) and the British Ella (Linda Bassett) want to be ordinary products of their turbulent times, but George insists on nothing less than a traditionalist upbringing for his kids, including arranged marriages for all of his sons. The lengths to which George--who is a big hypocrite, considering he's married to an Anglo woman, who is his second wife, no less--comes to assert his power over his family are monstrous, but Puri's performance adds an invaluable layer of vulnerability. Puri makes one believe that he really does love his family and wants the best for them; it's just that he refuses to see any beliefs other than his own as being so.
While there is serious grit to its story, _East_Is_East_, adapted from Ayub Khan-Din's play by director Damien O'Donnell and Khan-Din himself, is foremost a comedy, and there are plenty of laughs to be had from various domestic situations, culminating in one raucous climax. It's a credit to O'Donnell that the comedy not only doesn't cheapen the serious issues addressed in Khan-Din's story but that it feels like an integral part of the bigger picture. As a result, _East_Is_East_ is one of the rare films that gets to have the best of both worlds: hit serious and true emotional buttons while delivering a genuinely fun time.
Michael Dequina
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