It is, like all immigrant stories, about identity and Nazneen’s journey is both painful and touching.
Comment
03/19/08
Brick Lane (2008)
65
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:93
Fresh:60
Rotten:33
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Frustratingly slow-moving, but ultimately saved by Chatterjee's solid acting and Gavron's gentle patience.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Mar 20, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $1,010,010
Synopsis: Nazneen’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of seventeen,. Forced into an arranged marriage to an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s... [More]
Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum
Director: Sarah Gavron
Reviews for Brick Lane
Top CriticThe daily grind of a Brick Lane Bangladeshi is credibly brought to life in this sensitive and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel.
03/19/08
Top CriticThe director, Sarah Gavron, came through documentaries and BBC TV drama. This is her first feature and she makes the film very sensual, as well as highly controlled.
03/21/08
Top CriticTannishtha Chatterjee, known in India for film and theatre work, is excellent as the vulnerable, isolated young woman who gradually builds herself into a resilient survivor who can smile and tame the pain of her world
03/11/08
Top CriticNo new ground is explored, however, in this handsomely constructed film. Nazneen's story seems familiar every step of the way.
06/17/08
Chanu, a torrent of frustration who seems to be no more happy with the union than his wife is, confronts Karim in a memorable scene that packs a spark the rest of the film lacks.
07/24/08
... an intriguing and visually interesting film that in aggregate never escapes the genre ghetto. It is another immigration song, a glancing curiosity that never really penetrates our preconceived romantic illusions.
09/12/08
Taken for what it is, Brick Lane is something entirely its own.
07/18/08
Brick Lane feels slight and late to the table. Still, its pretty musings about small-scale self-actualization can be seductive.
06/19/08
In Chanu, it creates an indelible protagonist. He thinks he is a man of ideas. He is a man who, when it counts, is full of common sense and uncommon feeling.
09/19/08
Don't expect too many surprises from this low-key story of a Bangladeshi woman who learns to stand on her own two feet after years of stultifying arranged marriage.
11/15/07
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04/23/09
A blandly earnest coming-of-age story.
10/18/08
Ultimately hopeful, Brick Lane feels careful enough to connect with its intentions, leaving behind an engaging, turbulent picture that pays careful concentration to the tender nuances of the longing, unfulfilled heart.
07/04/08
Rich and subtle in its characterisation, Brick Lane is an enlightening tale about the breadth and depth of ordinary lives, how they intersect with history, and where they remain hidden away.
11/15/07
Its flat, static quality belies the novel's richness.
07/11/08
Brick Lane is about characters who have depth and reality, who change and learn, who have genuine feelings. And it keeps on surprising us, right to the end.
06/27/08
Top Critic[A] glossy but overly efficient drama that, like Nazneen's husband, is ultimately too ineffectual to make much of a dent.
06/20/08
For most of the movie, we feel as trapped as she does, and the lurching narrative seems anything but novelistic.
06/20/08
A depressing, static drama that will have heads lolling backwards and eyes drooping wherever it plays.
09/22/07
Latest News for Brick Lane
January 23, 2009:
A movie whose visuals are lovely to behold and lyrically awash in sensuality and desire, but sets the lives of women back at least a few centuries. 
More...
January 19, 2009:
A movie whose visuals are lovely to behold and lyrically awash in sensuality and desire, but sets the lives of women back at least a few centuries.
More...
June 19, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Get Smart Misses by That Much, Guru Gets No Love
This week at the movies, we've got wacky spies (Get Smart, starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway) and silly self-help specialists (The Love Guru starring Mike Myers and... More...
June 18, 2008:
Arranged marriage at center of cross-cultural drama set in London.
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