Anita & Me

I thought this was going to be a re-run of yet another East meets West type movie but I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Based on a novel by Meera Syal who also writes the film's screenplay, it follows the funny but often very moving coming-of-age of Meena, an above-average intelligence girl of Indian family living in a small East Midlands village. She teams up with Anita, the local (white) glam girl tear-away and the movie charts their firm friendship as they struggle individually with adolescence, family difficulties and the racism of peers. This is a wonderful and quite uplifting movie.

In the small Black Country village Tollington, the Kumars are the only Asian family in the area and are very aware that they have to work twice as hard to get anywhere. However for their daughter Meena, all she wants to do is dream and be popular. Bored with live she gets hooked when she spots the striking blonde Anita. Despite warnings that she's a "bad un", Meena tries to become friends with Anita and, during a sweet shop robbery, they do. However their friendship is not an easy one even if it is the main one of Meena's formative years.

Having spent the last decade in the English Midlands I must confess that I have yet to do anything but wince when I hear a thick Brummie or Black Country accent; so when this film opened with the characters all speaking in it my initial urge was to switch it off. However I stuck with it and quickly got used to it (in the same way as one gets used to a sore leg, it is never comfortable but you just move on). Told through the eyes of a child, the story has nice touches that might be exaggerated but they help the narrative work. Perhaps it does try too hard to be liked by the audience but it still combines the humour well with a story that becomes more interesting as it goes on. The personal nature of the screenplay means that it is insightful and convincing but it does it with good humour. Huseyin's direction is solid – nothing too special but professional enough to do the job.

The cast take to the material well. Although I would cross the road to avoid her voice again, Uppal leads the film well; her narration is a bit overused but generally she makes it work. Her actual performance is better and she grows up well across the film. The support cast is deep in talent who mostly do well. Bhaskar, Syal and Djalili are amusing if not totally present for the comedy roots. Dharker is a stunning woman and a good actress – she adds a bit of depth to a simple role. Brewster has less of a character to work with but she is fine for what she is asked to do. Beesley is supposedly a bump to increase investment but doesn't do much more than that. Burke and Williams are OK and add a bit of class to the edges.

Overall this is quite a nice little film that is greatly helped by the very personal material that comes through well into the script. The cast are mixed but the main ones are good enough to deliver the mix of comedy and convincing drama. The accents are a bit hard to take for the whole 90 minutes but generally I was able to get into the characters and the story enough to be engaging and a little charmed by it.

I went to see this movie because it wasn't Harry Potter or Bond, and I felt I should support the currently subdued British Film industry, but was very glad that I had. One of the best films I've seen so far this year - certainly better than most of the blockbusters so far.

I found it an excellent film with a nice blend of pathos and belly laughs, the poignant mixed with the comedic. I found Chandeep Uppal, as the lead, Meena, gave an excellent performance and deserves to go onto other things. Many stalwarts of British comedy; Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Kathy Burke, Mark Williams ... also gave solid performances. Of course, having grown up in the area it was set in I found myself identifying with the film more - wondering if the Queen Elizabeth Grammar school was the school I attended with the name changed; wondering if my family was ever part of the 70s Walsall tupperware set.

My problem came with the screening itself - seeing it on the Wednesday after the Friday release we were on one screen with 2 (evening) screenings on the smallest screen in the cinema (which was incidentally, mainly full). The previous week, I had seen Harry Potter, at about the same time, in the largest screen, and there were probably less than 30 people there, as it had been showing intensively every half an hour (and continues to). Most of the rest of the screens in the cinema were taken up with Bond. Come on British cinemas; push our own homegrown films a bit more - there's a lot of talent there but we've got to be able to see it.

I came at this film being very optimistic, to me it was unheard of, and I was unsure as to who was in it, but despite this I gave it ago after hearing that it was the next 'East Is East', but it literally is the next 'East Is East'. If you have seen either 'East Is East' or 'Bend It Like Beckham' you know the basic plot for this film, it is half comedy and half drama (with nothing new really being brought to either of them). The two young girls in the film are very good (Chandeep Uppal is excellent as Meena) in their roles and you do feel for Meena and Anita by the time the film is finished, but this still isn't enough to provide absolute satisfaction.

It comes down to the fact that if you have seen either of the two forenamed films you probably won't enjoy this film as fully as it was intended. Don't get me wrong this is a good film, with moments of laughter and moments of sorrow but you do feel let down at the fact that they still couldn't be original, and that it's just another film in the collection of english/indian films that is ever increasing. If you want a film that provides a few laughs but still has a bit of heart to it, go and see this film you will enjoy it, just don't go expecting anything great, you will be let down.

Overall 6/10

Having lived in the Black Country for over 30 years (which is in the West Midlands, not the East as some commentators state), I looked forward to this film as a huge fan of East is East, Bend it like Beckham and the cast of Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at no. 42. The plot was thin and predictable, the acting was patchy and many of the excellent jokes were lost in poor delivery. The accents were good, particularly from Kathy Burke who obviously took the time to study Black Country as opposed to Birmingham accents. Some of the other accents were forced, Lynn Redgrave's being perhaps the worse, as was her over-acting. An opportunity seemed to be missed to develop some of the supporting characters such as the various appalling neighbours and the wonderful grandmother. The message coming across seemed to be that white families are dysfunctional, religiously hypocritical and miserable, while Asian families have a few problems but are loving and full of fun - far too simplistic. Puzzling plot devices:- What was the "Yeti" all about? Who was he, where did he come from, why was he there and what happened after? What was the point of the Motorway? I have a feeling that the novel (which I have not yet read) will explain some of this but that is not really good enough for a film to be able to stand alone. Perhaps it was a mistake for Meera Syal to be a producer and actor having been the author as well. It sometimes needs a detatched producer to be able to see the problems. Here in Australia the film has not received many good reviews, but this may be predictable in the current political climate. Most Australians also find the accents impenetrable! Believe me, I really wanted to like it, but was bitterly disappointed.