Ae Fond Kiss ...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Ken Loach gets subtle, honest performances from his cast in "Ae Fond Kiss ...", the final film in his Glasgow trilogy. Tackling the theme of love across the racial divide in that city's South Asian community, the movie levels with an audience, refusing to see anyone as a villain and letting everyone have his say. The problem with the film is that there is little new here. Many Asian immigrant writers and directors have made this film before, especially in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his career, Loach has done an admirable job of finding new angles on a wide range of familiar political and social issues. Here, things are too predictable. Perhaps the viewpoint is to blame. Loach and writer Paul Laverty are obviously not part of Glasgow's South Asian community, so they understandably lack the insights of those who are. Consequently, "Ae Fond Kiss ..". will probably have only a brief theatrical life.
The biggest surprise here is that Atta Yaqub, who plays a second-generation Pakistani from Glasgow, has never acted before. He commands the screen with startling ease and has a sexy presence. He plays Casim, who leads something of a double life even before he meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). Casim speaks Punjabi at home, hasa less-than-enlightened attitude when it comes to his kid sister and has already agreed to an arranged marriage with his cousin. Yet away from home, he speaks Scottish-accented English, works as a DJ in a hot nightclub and dreams of owning his own club. He and his pal Hammid (Shy Ramsan) have even picked out a location.
Then he meets Roisin, an Irish-Catholic music teacher at the private school Casim's sister Tahara (Shabana Bakhsh) attends. They fall in love in no time, seemingly oblivious to the trouble such a relationship will cause. Could any couple in that environment be so naive?
When he informs his parents that he won't marry his cousin, he moves out of the family home and in with Roisin. The rest of the movie is devoted to emotional confrontations between the couple and family members. The older sister (Ghizala Avan), who lost her engagement because of the scandal, pleads with Roisin to leave her brother. Casim's mother and father (Shamshad Akhtar and Ahmad Riaz) demand that their son bring the family no further shame. Casim fails to back up his younger sister's desire to attend Edinburgh University, causing her to rightly charge him with hypocrisy.
The ramifications of the couple's decision to live together extend beyond Casim's family. Thanks to a fanatical parish priest (Gerard Kelly), Roisin will lose her job at the Catholic school if she continues to live with a Muslim. Clearly, only the truest of true love is worth all this misery.
So lively are the characters that the routine nature of the story disappoints. The couple reaches its fateful decision all too easily. Loach has never been mistaken for a romantic, but here he is, and it feels contrived. How will the rest of this couple's life together unfold in such a small community? The real movie may be just beginning as the credits roll.
Barry Ackroyd's cinematography catches the grit of the Glasgow locations as well as the heated sensuality of the unusually graphic sexual scenes. (Loach evidently felt a need to establish how well these two get along in the sack given that the script poorly demonstrates why they are made for each other otherwise.) However, Ackroyd could have added more razzle-dazzle to the nightclub scenes.
If the film is to play outside the United Kingdom though, subtitles are absolutely necessary. The Glaswegian accents are just too thick.
AE FOND KISS ...
A Sixteen Films Bianca Films, EMC and Tornasol Films production
Credits:
Director: Ken Loach
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Martin Johnson
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Millar
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Casim: Atta Yaqub
Roisin: Eva Birthistle
Tariq: Ahmad Riaz
Tahara: Sabana Bakhsh
Sadia: Shamshad Akhtar
Rukhsana: Ghizala Avan
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- Ken Loach gets subtle, honest performances from his cast in "Ae Fond Kiss ...", the final film in his Glasgow trilogy. Tackling the theme of love across the racial divide in that city's South Asian community, the movie levels with an audience, refusing to see anyone as a villain and letting everyone have his say. The problem with the film is that there is little new here. Many Asian immigrant writers and directors have made this film before, especially in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his career, Loach has done an admirable job of finding new angles on a wide range of familiar political and social issues. Here, things are too predictable. Perhaps the viewpoint is to blame. Loach and writer Paul Laverty are obviously not part of Glasgow's South Asian community, so they understandably lack the insights of those who are. Consequently, "Ae Fond Kiss ..". will probably have only a brief theatrical life.
The biggest surprise here is that Atta Yaqub, who plays a second-generation Pakistani from Glasgow, has never acted before. He commands the screen with startling ease and has a sexy presence. He plays Casim, who leads something of a double life even before he meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). Casim speaks Punjabi at home, hasa less-than-enlightened attitude when it comes to his kid sister and has already agreed to an arranged marriage with his cousin. Yet away from home, he speaks Scottish-accented English, works as a DJ in a hot nightclub and dreams of owning his own club. He and his pal Hammid (Shy Ramsan) have even picked out a location.
Then he meets Roisin, an Irish-Catholic music teacher at the private school Casim's sister Tahara (Shabana Bakhsh) attends. They fall in love in no time, seemingly oblivious to the trouble such a relationship will cause. Could any couple in that environment be so naive?
When he informs his parents that he won't marry his cousin, he moves out of the family home and in with Roisin. The rest of the movie is devoted to emotional confrontations between the couple and family members. The older sister (Ghizala Avan), who lost her engagement because of the scandal, pleads with Roisin to leave her brother. Casim's mother and father (Shamshad Akhtar and Ahmad Riaz) demand that their son bring the family no further shame. Casim fails to back up his younger sister's desire to attend Edinburgh University, causing her to rightly charge him with hypocrisy.
The ramifications of the couple's decision to live together extend beyond Casim's family. Thanks to a fanatical parish priest (Gerard Kelly), Roisin will lose her job at the Catholic school if she continues to live with a Muslim. Clearly, only the truest of true love is worth all this misery.
So lively are the characters that the routine nature of the story disappoints. The couple reaches its fateful decision all too easily. Loach has never been mistaken for a romantic, but here he is, and it feels contrived. How will the rest of this couple's life together unfold in such a small community? The real movie may be just beginning as the credits roll.
Barry Ackroyd's cinematography catches the grit of the Glasgow locations as well as the heated sensuality of the unusually graphic sexual scenes. (Loach evidently felt a need to establish how well these two get along in the sack given that the script poorly demonstrates why they are made for each other otherwise.) However, Ackroyd could have added more razzle-dazzle to the nightclub scenes.
If the film is to play outside the United Kingdom though, subtitles are absolutely necessary. The Glaswegian accents are just too thick.
AE FOND KISS ...
A Sixteen Films Bianca Films, EMC and Tornasol Films production
Credits:
Director: Ken Loach
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Martin Johnson
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Millar
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Casim: Atta Yaqub
Roisin: Eva Birthistle
Tariq: Ahmad Riaz
Tahara: Sabana Bakhsh
Sadia: Shamshad Akhtar
Rukhsana: Ghizala Avan
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ae Fond Kiss ...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Ken Loach gets subtle, honest performances from his cast in "Ae Fond Kiss ...", the final film in his Glasgow trilogy. Tackling the theme of love across the racial divide in that city's South Asian community, the movie levels with an audience, refusing to see anyone as a villain and letting everyone have his say. The problem with the film is that there is little new here. Many Asian immigrant writers and directors have made this film before, especially in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his career, Loach has done an admirable job of finding new angles on a wide range of familiar political and social issues. Here, things are too predictable. Perhaps the viewpoint is to blame. Loach and writer Paul Laverty are obviously not part of Glasgow's South Asian community, so they understandably lack the insights of those who are. Consequently, "Ae Fond Kiss ..". will probably have only a brief theatrical life.
The biggest surprise here is that Atta Yaqub, who plays a second-generation Pakistani from Glasgow, has never acted before. He commands the screen with startling ease and has a sexy presence. He plays Casim, who leads something of a double life even before he meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). Casim speaks Punjabi at home, hasa less-than-enlightened attitude when it comes to his kid sister and has already agreed to an arranged marriage with his cousin. Yet away from home, he speaks Scottish-accented English, works as a DJ in a hot nightclub and dreams of owning his own club. He and his pal Hammid (Shy Ramsan) have even picked out a location.
Then he meets Roisin, an Irish-Catholic music teacher at the private school Casim's sister Tahara (Shabana Bakhsh) attends. They fall in love in no time, seemingly oblivious to the trouble such a relationship will cause. Could any couple in that environment be so naive?
When he informs his parents that he won't marry his cousin, he moves out of the family home and in with Roisin. The rest of the movie is devoted to emotional confrontations between the couple and family members. The older sister (Ghizala Avan), who lost her engagement because of the scandal, pleads with Roisin to leave her brother. Casim's mother and father (Shamshad Akhtar and Ahmad Riaz) demand that their son bring the family no further shame. Casim fails to back up his younger sister's desire to attend Edinburgh University, causing her to rightly charge him with hypocrisy.
The ramifications of the couple's decision to live together extend beyond Casim's family. Thanks to a fanatical parish priest (Gerard Kelly), Roisin will lose her job at the Catholic school if she continues to live with a Muslim. Clearly, only the truest of true love is worth all this misery.
So lively are the characters that the routine nature of the story disappoints. The couple reaches its fateful decision all too easily. Loach has never been mistaken for a romantic, but here he is, and it feels contrived. How will the rest of this couple's life together unfold in such a small community? The real movie may be just beginning as the credits roll.
Barry Ackroyd's cinematography catches the grit of the Glasgow locations as well as the heated sensuality of the unusually graphic sexual scenes. (Loach evidently felt a need to establish how well these two get along in the sack given that the script poorly demonstrates why they are made for each other otherwise.) However, Ackroyd could have added more razzle-dazzle to the nightclub scenes.
If the film is to play outside the United Kingdom though, subtitles are absolutely necessary. The Glaswegian accents are just too thick.
AE FOND KISS ...
A Sixteen Films Bianca Films, EMC and Tornasol Films production
Credits:
Director: Ken Loach
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Martin Johnson
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Millar
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Casim: Atta Yaqub
Roisin: Eva Birthistle
Tariq: Ahmad Riaz
Tahara: Sabana Bakhsh
Sadia: Shamshad Akhtar
Rukhsana: Ghizala Avan
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- Ken Loach gets subtle, honest performances from his cast in "Ae Fond Kiss ...", the final film in his Glasgow trilogy. Tackling the theme of love across the racial divide in that city's South Asian community, the movie levels with an audience, refusing to see anyone as a villain and letting everyone have his say. The problem with the film is that there is little new here. Many Asian immigrant writers and directors have made this film before, especially in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his career, Loach has done an admirable job of finding new angles on a wide range of familiar political and social issues. Here, things are too predictable. Perhaps the viewpoint is to blame. Loach and writer Paul Laverty are obviously not part of Glasgow's South Asian community, so they understandably lack the insights of those who are. Consequently, "Ae Fond Kiss ..". will probably have only a brief theatrical life.
The biggest surprise here is that Atta Yaqub, who plays a second-generation Pakistani from Glasgow, has never acted before. He commands the screen with startling ease and has a sexy presence. He plays Casim, who leads something of a double life even before he meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). Casim speaks Punjabi at home, hasa less-than-enlightened attitude when it comes to his kid sister and has already agreed to an arranged marriage with his cousin. Yet away from home, he speaks Scottish-accented English, works as a DJ in a hot nightclub and dreams of owning his own club. He and his pal Hammid (Shy Ramsan) have even picked out a location.
Then he meets Roisin, an Irish-Catholic music teacher at the private school Casim's sister Tahara (Shabana Bakhsh) attends. They fall in love in no time, seemingly oblivious to the trouble such a relationship will cause. Could any couple in that environment be so naive?
When he informs his parents that he won't marry his cousin, he moves out of the family home and in with Roisin. The rest of the movie is devoted to emotional confrontations between the couple and family members. The older sister (Ghizala Avan), who lost her engagement because of the scandal, pleads with Roisin to leave her brother. Casim's mother and father (Shamshad Akhtar and Ahmad Riaz) demand that their son bring the family no further shame. Casim fails to back up his younger sister's desire to attend Edinburgh University, causing her to rightly charge him with hypocrisy.
The ramifications of the couple's decision to live together extend beyond Casim's family. Thanks to a fanatical parish priest (Gerard Kelly), Roisin will lose her job at the Catholic school if she continues to live with a Muslim. Clearly, only the truest of true love is worth all this misery.
So lively are the characters that the routine nature of the story disappoints. The couple reaches its fateful decision all too easily. Loach has never been mistaken for a romantic, but here he is, and it feels contrived. How will the rest of this couple's life together unfold in such a small community? The real movie may be just beginning as the credits roll.
Barry Ackroyd's cinematography catches the grit of the Glasgow locations as well as the heated sensuality of the unusually graphic sexual scenes. (Loach evidently felt a need to establish how well these two get along in the sack given that the script poorly demonstrates why they are made for each other otherwise.) However, Ackroyd could have added more razzle-dazzle to the nightclub scenes.
If the film is to play outside the United Kingdom though, subtitles are absolutely necessary. The Glaswegian accents are just too thick.
AE FOND KISS ...
A Sixteen Films Bianca Films, EMC and Tornasol Films production
Credits:
Director: Ken Loach
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Martin Johnson
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Millar
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Casim: Atta Yaqub
Roisin: Eva Birthistle
Tariq: Ahmad Riaz
Tahara: Sabana Bakhsh
Sadia: Shamshad Akhtar
Rukhsana: Ghizala Avan
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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