If you would like to have a more visual experience you can watch my youtube review HERE!
The Hundred-Foot Journey is the new film from Lasse Hallstrom (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat) based on the novel of the same name. With The Hundred-Foot Journey Lasse Hallstrom creates a lovely film with strong performances and a very predictable and safe screenplay full of clichés, schmaltz but also earnestness and heart. The film follows Kadam family as they search for a fresh start after a tragedy in their homeland. Their search brings them to a small French town where they decide to open an Indian restaurant across the road from a renowned French restaurant.
Earlier this year we got another food focused film in Jon Favreau's Chef which was a feel good movie with many servings of delicious food porn. Favreau handled his film with a slightly irreverent touch while Hallstrom's film is executed like the Disney production that it is; this of course means that it is more likely to please the sentimental but it also leaves it without much of a personality to separate it from other films of the type. This all comes down to the source material and the screenplay; though I haven't read the book it's safe to say that the screenplay is very similar in plot and tone. The script hits all the expected beats and though there are two moments where it takes a different path it all leads to the same destination.
Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Though it is entirely unoriginal, full of schmaltz and fluff sometimes you need that. I am very passionate at movies and because of that I want movies to strive for something more; of course I like to have fun but I can also tend to be rather pretentious and as a filmmaker I look at films differently as well. But, sometimes it alright for a film just to make you smile and feel good; not everything has to be serious, revelatory or revolutionary. Sometimes a film can just please and that is enough...and if that film happens to have Helen Mirren being as marvellous as she always is that's a plus.
The cast is solid and also rather charming, especially up and comer Charlotte Le Bon who is currently in production of Robert Zemeckis's next film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Now this isn't a movie looking to have Oscar calibre performances and it doesn't but the actors help this film to be more engaging than your usual fluff piece and their are a handful of moments that are actually quite emotionally moving. The film features lovely anamorphic cinematography from Linus Sandgren and is very well made with the food really being a highlight (though that could be because I came into this film with an empty stomach). Like I said this isn't anything fantastic but if your looking for something that can make you smile and fell good then this is a movie for you.
3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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