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Edited by Evelyn Lok
FILMevelyn.lok@hkmagmedia.com
The Hundred Foot Journey PPPPP
(India/UAE/USA) Family/Dramedy. Directed by Lasse Hallström. Starring Helen Mirren,
Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon. Category IIA. 123 minutes. Opened Aug 28.
Food porn is so hot right now: food blogs, Instagram, everyone on your Facebook newsfeed,
Jon Favreau’s “Chef” and now “The Hundred Foot Journey” from Lasse Hallström (“Chocolat”). I’m
not complaining. Why would I, when a food film-making veteran takes on a light-hearted comfort
movie, in which the audience gets to eye-fuck haute cuisine being prepared by hot chefs But it’s
not the food here that leaves a sour taste, but the clichés, cultural stereotypes and caricatures.
A young boy in Mumbai learns everything about cooking from his wise and loving mama.
But a political uprising ends in a predictable tragedy at the family-run restaurant, sending them
on an aimless wander around Europe. Led by their stubborn patriarch Papa Kadem (Om Puri; “The
Reluctant Fundamentalist”), the family bounces from London to the French countryside in a broken
down van—which finally gives up next to a picturesque town. Papa Kadem decides to settle the
family here and quickly buys up a large empty house that will become “Maison Mumbai,” the
family’s new Indian restaurant—with his handsome son Hassan (Manish Dayal) as the head cook.
And it’s here where they’ll annoy the restaurant across the road: the elegant, Michelin-starred
fine-dine establishment “Le Saule Pleureur” helmed by tight-lipped owner Madame Mallory (Helen
Mirren; “The Queen”) and pretty sous chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon; “Yves Saint Laurent”).
Loud, colorful, wickedly out of place in the small French town, and yet stiff competition for the
Michelin-star obsessed Madame Mallory, Maison Mumbai quickly becomes the target for cultureclashing
shenanigans. Papa Kadem and Mallory play tricks on each other—everything from buying
out all of the ducks at the market to filing complaints with the mayor—and while it’s all a bit silly,
Puri and Mirren (her bad French accent aside) are a pleasure to watch. They’re having fun in their
roles and with each other. But though their smile-inducing side dish of a subplot is entertaining,
it’s sadly not enough to carry the rest of the meal.
Things take a turn when a violent act from a third party brings the two houses together. At this
point, the focus turns to Hassan, who is now learning to cook French cuisine with Madame Mallory.
After his training, he runs away to Paris to become an internationally renowned chef. Now that he’s
left behind the family and the town, it all goes downhill and everything gets pretty weirdly dark.
Well, Disney-dark. Hassan starts wearing a black chef’s uniform, grows a perfectly trimmed beard
and starts drinking too much red wine—and this is bad
The relatively unknown young lead characters—dashing Dayal as the talented Hassan, and
Le Bon as Le Saule Pleureur’s pretty sous chef Marguerite—do their best with what they’re given.
It’s not until the messy third act, when the dark side of Hassan emerges, that we see Dayal’s
shortcomings as an actor. But the fault lies in Steven Knight’s (“Eastern Promises”) clichéd script
and Hallström’s clumsy direction.
This Disney-, Oprah Winfrey- and Steven Spielberg-produced family movie is entirely made up
of cultural clichés—which is a shame, since you really want to like this movie. It’s all about food,
Mirren and Puri are awesome, and the two young chefs are adorable. “Hundred Foot Journey”
has more or less all the necessary ingredients of an East-meets-West fusion dish, but without the
heart of “Chef” or the kitchen education of Pixar’s “Ratatouille.” Plus that last bite of a final act is
anything but perfect. Katie Kenny
Coming Soon
Concussion
(USA) After lesbian housewife Abby (Robin
Weigert) suffers from a concussion, she
suddenly can’t take the suburban humdrum
anymore and decides to explore a new
identity. Calling herself Eleanor, she sets up
trysts with scores of women around the city,
all without her wife’s knowledge. Is this “Blue
is the Warmest Color: the Later Years” Opens
Sep 11.
If I Stay
(USA) Gayle Foreman’s teen novel “If I Stay”
took six years to get translated to the big
screen. All the better, as the amazing Chloë
Grace Moretz was able to bag the role as
the protagonist Mia. She’s a cello player at a
crossroads: should she go to Juilliard or run
off with the love of her life In the midst of
this, a horrific traffic accident causes her to
have an out-of-body experience, in which
she sees her life from all angles. Woohoo!
Convenient narrative device! Opens Sep 11.
34 HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, September 5, 2014