Sorry people but I must say that this is one of the worst films I have ever seen. Maybe I need to watch it one more just to double check but it's crap. Can't see why some people find it funny. I actually gave away my DVD to someone else as I was desperate to get rid of it.
So people, why did you like it or dislike it?
I agree. The film was in the comedy section of the video store, and had a light hearted description and cover. I was really surprised when I watched it that there was little that was comedic about it. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I just don't think abuse is funny. I might have admired the film a little more if it had been marketed as a drama. As it stands, I merely view it as about 2 hours of my life that I'll never ever get back.
shareI agree with Steve. There was very little that could even be considered funny. It was very dark, an not even in a 'black comedy' kind of way.
shareThe abuse isnt meant to be funny you arse.
sharesun on daisies, do you not realise this film is a true story? It's Ayub Khan Din's autobiographical account of his own childhood. The lad in the parka is him as a child. Ella and George are based directly on his parents. The events in the film are literally true. They happened. What do you want Khan Din to do, lie about his own childhood so as not to disturb your sensibilities?
You should at least do a little bit of research before pontificating.
It was Based on a true story. It does not mean every event in the film is what happened to him
It was obvious it was the family were Emphasized grossly
I totally disagree. A friend of mine received this on DVD for Christmas and we decided to take a gamble and watch it. I wouldn't say the film is all comedy -- though is does have a lot of hilarious moments. It deals with some very serious issues and I think they are handled and resolved beautifully. It's actually what should be considered a black comedy. If you're just looking to laugh yourself silly and ignore the uderlying messages, it's probably not for you. I'm surprised that I liked it since I think I'm the toughest critic and most of what's put out today IS painful rubbish.
share[deleted]
This is a horribly exaggerated and stereotyped film. The intergenerational immigrant family issues are complex and can be presented in a funny or serious manner in ways that are not so racist and bigoted.
shareWe studied this film in film studies and is one of our close study films for the comedy topic in our exam, and I have to say it's been kinda ruining the course for me. I really do not enjoy this movie, i find it boreing, stereotypical and one dimensional. And having to watch it several times and having to know every detail about it is not good.
shareHeeeyy me toooo. I really do hate this film, as does everyone else in my film class.
Yer exam tomorrow? If so, good luck!
O.B - The man with a tampon for a brain! --- UnderPressure
So it would seem... --- Norry xD
I agree with mptnla this is a truly great movie i was pissing myself laughing
is just great really great!!!!
well i didnt even see it but i met Emil Marwa, he came to my school as part of my drama class, he was pretty cool! he knew the teacher thet was teaching us! anyway........totally missed the point of this board! .........
shareThe way I viewed this movie is NOT the way most people viewed it. To me it was a man who was trying to perserve his family's culture and help them grow as human beings. I saw his children as selfish beings and Turk disgusted me as he tore the hats, etc as he screamed "I'm NOT MARRYING A PAKI!!!" To me he was showing his own hatred for what he didn't know and self hatred for himself. He is after all part "paki" and yet the film shows him calling himself "Randy" to get into clubs and shows him throwing away his culture.
I also lost respect for the mother in the scene where she was talking about how the daughters were ugly and her sons were better. My thing is that even though the girls were BUTT UGLY, she still shouldn't of done that. That act alone was insulting for it made the girls more aware that they were ugly, and it makes the mother petty in that she can only bring her dysnfunctional family on higher ground by openly saying what everyone's thinking.
The abuse scenes were horrible to watch and after the hour and many minutes, I began wishing that I hadn't rented the dam thing in the first place.
the point was that the parents with the daughters were insulting the lifestyle of the mother and the sons. and after a bit she didnt want to take the insult anymore. especially because they were acting so superior, when their daughters looks were nothing to be superior of.
plus the point of the film was that the young generation of pakistanis are faced with embracing tradition, or adapting to the culture surrounding them. especially since in their case, the mother was white too, which made the situation at home all the more confusing.
and i think the film tackles those issues quite well. and uses the nationions racial tensions as a backdrop to all this.
and no. the abuse was not supposed to be funny. and i dont see how that scene could ever be interpreted as funny.
But it seems to me that this film was simple a victim of a lousy marketing campaign. selling it for something its not, and therefore ruining people's expectations.
personally, i loved the film, and i even if people dont like it... i doubt it would fall into the 'worst film ever' category. maybe in the 'worst marketing ever' ... but thats it.
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"Chance favors the prepared mind"
Im sorry...were we watching the same film?? I really like East is East and believe its great film and gets even better everytime you watch it. Despite me being slightly biased being a huge Jimi Mistry fan, I think the acting is of a very high standard with some hilarious one liners, particularly the wonderful Lesley Nichols (Auntie Annie) Some people may not neccisarily believe the issues regarding religion and culture were dealt with the highest of sensitivity, but I have to disagree. Religion and culture is just an example used to express the more inplicit issues of the film which I believe is family, growing up and the need to rebel against conformity. It isn't strictly 'an asian film' it is universal and the main themes are ones which we can relate to.... Also Jimi Mistry completely rocks!!!!!!!
shareIts funny because of its religious content, religion is an easy thing to turn into something funny eg father ted, and some of the monty phython films, but im not going to go into all that and just say it was a great film to watch 7/10
shareIt's amazing :P
Wow Avril Lavignes concert on 9th October 2004 Cardiff International Arena (CIA) Was AMAZING!!!!
It's not an all-out hilarious comedy but it does have some funny moments. It would have been better marketed as a drama but it's still an enjoyable film.
'By Grabthar's hammer... what a savings.' ~ Alexander, 'Galaxy Quest'
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Its A Serious Comedy, I mean alot of it is only funny to asians and alot of other people would probably not understand it. And for those saying the film is racist, just because some of the characters in the film say racist things does not mean it is trying to convey but to proove a point. Some scenes hard to watch but neccesary. And for those muslims who dont like the film because it conveys them badly, sometimes the truth hurts and this film is the truth.
shareThis film is the truth??? Absolutely not. The stereotyping is just downright offensive and completely untrue. Why would a man who is so obssessed with culture and appearances marry a white woman? And any self-respecting Pakistani would not have his sons marry 2 ugly heffers just for the sake of it. And none of the actors even look Pakistani - they're clearly Indian. Although it has one or two funny moments, as a whole it's utter crap and unrealistic. This is the type of film that breeds ignorance and stereotyping.
shareThe whole point about this film is that none of the characters in it are perfect paragons of virtue. The film is not about Race or religion, but rather people's failure to embrace difference, and accept change of all kinds. It's about what happens when he have immutable and inctractable belief systems, even in the face of our own human frailty and inability to follow our own lofty standards, which we expect others to follow.
Mr Khan the main character sums up the contradictions of the film perfectly.
A man who has left behind his home country and come to Englad to make a better life, but ends up leaving his wife behind in Pakistan and eloping with a white english woman. Yet, he expects his children to grow up as young Pakistani's, in spite of the fact he has turned his back on his wife and to an extent his culture.
This is a story of the complexities faced by immigrants and communities in that period of time. It's about human frailties and ordinary working people's lives.
Mr Khan isn't a bad man, but he is frustrated by his inability to make his family conform to his own image of a muslim pakistani family, and is in part ashamed of his own wife and children.
The film is beautifully acted, especially the two lead roles, and even though Mr Khan is the 'villain' of the piece, you cannot help
There is nothing racist about this film, it's a portrayal of one man's difficulty in coming to terms with the life he has made for himself, who is harking back to a 'better' way of life, which he himself isn't living.
I'm sure that there have been thousands of Mr Khan's in the UK, this film is not about portraying Pakistanis or Muslims as bad people, but is rather about the distance between the ideal and the reality of people's lives from all walks of life.
The film ends with hope though, as Mr Khan trugdes away having lost everything, and the little red headed kid, who earlier was handing out leaflets with his dad for Enoch Powell, pipes up 'Salam-Alaykum' Mr Khan. Where people are thrown together, they will learn about one another, if only they are prepared to understand, seems to be the enduring message.
"MR Khan isn't a badman?"
He was an out of control abusive typical pakistani man... I can relate to this, because I know some families that are like this...
The other things you said where spot on...
the Humour? I found it pretty funny... the reason that I can relate to this situation, I always sit down and watch this movie whenever I can... these parts include...
- When Mr Khan and his son is in hopistal and Mr Khan encounters an indian doctor. Based on the events between Pakistani's and Indian's, there was a war and it's still continuing today
- When all of Mr Khan's kids were running away when the minibus to the Moquse came... I used to do the same when my dad told me to pray... I also used to pretend sleeping :P
I can't brother listing all of them myself, people POST some others...
I didn't find this film offensive at all. Im a West Indian from the UK. I saw the Muslim family represented in a variety of lifestyles. One was an artist, one was a serious, hardworking student, another was gay, another was a tomboy, still another was trying to assimilate and ashamed of his heritage while still another was quite the opposite. In all of this, the father was the one who was truly confused about what he wanted. He'd left his wife in Pakistan to move to the UK to find a better life, married an Englishwoman and set up a shop selling fish and chips to the Brits. Now he wants to raise his kids as traditional muslims after they'd been exposed to english life and it's diverse cultures.
I admit they kind of downplayed the positives of traditional muslim life and made it seem like just another forced religion. Seems like the director had some issues about her upbringing. Still I like the movie. It's not perfect and has many flaws but it's amusing, comical and also a very serious commentary about identity.
This film is the truth??? Absolutely not.
sun on daisies, do you not realise this film is a true story? It's Ayub Khan Din's autobiographical account of his own childhood. The lad in the parka is him as a child. Ella and George are based directly on his parents. The events in the film are literally true. They happened. What do you want Khan Din to do, lie about his own childhood so as not to disturb your sensibilities?
You should at least do a little bit of research before pontificating.
"I don’t like the term torture. I prefer to call it nastiness."
Donald Rumsfeld
The film was alright, but I saw the play before I saw the film anf I prefer watching the play as you really get involved into the story, and the domestic violence is more poignant in the stage version. The play also has more funny parts that the film has seemed to have lost.
shareerm ... duh! it's actually pretty realistic - the whole thing with marrying a white woman etc. just shows his hypocricy - that's kinda the point! it's stupid to say something's racist just because it portrays someone of a different 'race' in a bad way - we wouldn't be allowed to accuse an asian film of being racist if it said bad stuff about white brits - that just wouldn't be PC, now, would it?
shareI first watched this movie when I was a kid, and I didn't really understand it then, but it's a great film.
shareit's a great film........ i don't see how anyone could say it's crap.
shareI actually think this film was a great laugh.
I had to get it out at blockbusters, as i own a parker, and people started callin me sajid! Mint film...! Disagree with yous that think its crap! its a proper down to earth film!
Did they really not have indoor plumbing in Bradford in the 70's?
Or were the buckets in the room purely for convenience?
Curious, are those who call this rubbish, of Pakistani descent by chance?
I don't mean to ignite a war, just curious how this movie is viewed across cultural lines.
It is unrealistic to expect every movie to be authentic in every instance.
Perception is reality, and since we all posess our own unique personalities and ways of looking at the world, who are we to say something is brilliant or rubbish?
For those who question how the father has the right to impose such strict religious law, when he in fact is breaking one himself by marrying a white woman, I see that as the foundation for the movie.
Being a parent, some of the things I find most frustrating in my children is when they make the same mistakes I made as a child. Some parents handle it better than others, the ones who do not, are some of the worst parents.
The father is attempting to atone for his "mistake" through his children, who clearly see through the hypocrisy thus providing the conflict of the movie.
The violence he manifests towards his family is actually the disgust he has for himself....but he can't very well beat the *beep* out of himself now can he?
Did they really not have indoor plumbing in Bradford in the 70's?
In many cases, no.
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He isn't breaking religious law by marrying a white women
No, but most religions would certainly have something to say about the fact that he is already married. Oops, now I come to think of it, Islam doesn't have a problem with that....
Bush Logic:- Killing American embryos = murder. Killing Arab civilians = business as usual.
can't believe so many of you don't find this funny at all. I and everyone i know really love it. I guess many of you don't relate to it, since you aren't asian muslims living in britain, so miss many of the jokes. But this is definately a classic for asians living in england.
share[deleted]
I really enjoyed this film and I did find the humor in many of the the scenes. I think I can relate more to the movie because my grandfather was abusive to my grandmother. The scene where the children stand up for their mother in the end is identical to what happened with us, right down to Grandma defending him.
You'll have nothing and like it!
Double Farts!!!
I am studying this film for media, looking at how it represents anglo-pakistanis, manchester and life for those living in the 1970s. Personally I thought the film was ok to watch it's not the best film but I think some of you are exaggerating when you talk about how rubbish it is.
Personally it is not as comedic as it could be and the abuse that they suffer not just at the hands of the father but other members of their community is not supposed to generate such outrage because it is true. For those of you that have a problem with the abuse particuarly the racist abuse it could be your own demons that are making you feel like that.
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The reason this film is not as funny as it is made out to be is because it was originally an independent film marketed as a drama. As it's popularity grew, FilmFour realised they were on to something and thus edited the trailers to market it as a comedy. Notice the dog in the trailers appears in one, maybe two scenes in the entire film. This film does not follow hollywood genre film guidlines and conventions. If you aren't looking for an intelligent film that challenges your social views go watch Mr. Ice Cream Man. No, seriously though that film is the worst (and so by proxy, the funniest) film I have ever seen. It looks like it was shot on a handheld (and no that isn't the idea).
shareI read above........in the opic...how people were in their film studies class being taught what is wrong with this film.
get a *beep* life. Film is cannot be limited to the confines of the educational system.