East Is East
(1999)
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George Khan is a proud Pakistani, and a chip shop owner. He has seven children and believes that he is raising them to be respectable Pakistanis. But the kids have other ideas... A hilarious story of what happens when two cultures meet in one family. Also contains cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage. |
Films about Asian integration in Britain have tended to be both serious (My Son the Fanatic) and marginalised (My Beautiful Laundrette), but this 1970s-set culture-clash comedy breaks the mould. It's thoroughly accessible and doesn't take itself too seriously as it follows the travails of a Pakistani dad, now married to an Englishwoman, who is desperate that his sons buckle under and accept arranged marriages. The boys, heady with teenage freedom and feeling “British” as opposed to “Asian”, are resistant, and family wrangling ensues. Funny, charming and refreshing, this is a great little film.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Often broad but always enjoyable comedy that, for all its use of stereotypical characters and situations, manages to be truthful about family relationships.