Trade Offs

I saw this film in San Diego at the October 19th screening. I was very impressed with the quality of this independent film.

The movie told a nice story and kept my interest. For me, I summarize it by saying it's about a girl finding herself and her happiness and about having to make choices that go against what her family culture would dictate.

I would recommend seeing this film.

I never expected such quality from a group of first-time filmmakers and many first-time actors. Trade-offs is as much a story about the dreams we all have-love, money, happiness as it is a story about a young couple from India. Don't expect production quality to rival any of Mira Nair's works- this movie was made on a small budget and therefore shows its limitations. But content is what keeps the audience attentive. If you've been exposed to other Indian-American movies of late, you'll notice something different in Trade-Offs. After seeing this movie at a screening, I wanted to tell as many people as I could about it. It's like being one of the first to discover a new band or a new restaurant with four-star potential. You want to tell people about it, taking pride in knowing that you recommended to them.

After 20 minutes through the film, I had to stop it, go to the computer, go to IMDB and find out why I bought this dvd. After reading again what everybody said, I decided to see if it would get any better. Trade Offs did get a little better but only because of the great performance of Deypika Singh. Unfortunately she was so good that she made everyone else pale by comparison which was not all that hard to do. The acting was either inconsistent or reminded me of some of the almost laughable stuff that is on late night cable. The story was OK but seemed to be missing something that I could not put my finger on. This film looks and feels low budget. Photography was nothing to write home about and you would hope that the director could have gotten more out of his ensemble unless that is the best he could get. I liked the music which sounds even better on the cd but, at the beginning of the film, the music was so loud that you can barely hear the dialogue and it is not in a night club. Because of all the above, I had to give the film a 5/10 which is one of the lowest scores I have given. Without Deypika Singh, the score would have been a lot lower.

Every great film begins with a great script and Trade Offs did just that. I loved the story and could really relate to the characters. The film makers took a real life relationship problem all too common in this country and presented it in such a way that the audience could see and feel the pain of both sides of the fence. The story is well-balanced and maintains the attention of the audience throughout. Plus, the events that transpire are all unexpected. The story is great from beginning to end. Great character development and chemistry. Superb acting throughout. This is Vikram's first film? Very well directed. He had a vision and I do believe he succeeded in bringing that vision to the screen. Great job! Speaking of "great", how about the music? Can be so easily overlooked but a great series of images amounts to little without a well-composed soundtrack. "Trade Offs" is polished off with a beautiful soundtrack that makes the Indian culture of the characters in this new world come to life. I applaud the entire cast and crew for their tireless efforts in this project. You have been rewarded with a great finished film,... and this is only the beginning!

I really enjoyed the film in it's simplistic complexity - it has given me food for thought. I felt it was an intelligent script, yet simple and understated. I enjoyed the acting, the directing and the story as it unfolded to be not just a story of choices, yet a story of human interest for any culture where we are expected to view life as our family and our society has. It was a story of courage, self discovery and being true to yourself even in a state of confusion, which is sometimes when we allow the most clarity to ourselves for our own survival.