The Hundred-Foot Journey
The Hundred-Foot Journeyis a by the numbers, yet charming, handsome, and well-acted dramedy that the whole family can enjoy.
The Hundred - Foot Journeytells the news report of Hassan Kadam , who at an early age discovers he has a olfactory organ for good food and a passion for preparation . Young Hassan ( Manish Dayal ) and his family experience personal catastrophe as a solvent of political strife within India , force them to take flight their home country . The Kadams ( with a little push from fate ) eventually wind up take root down in the French countryside , where their paterfamilias " Papa " ( Om Puri ) make up one’s mind to corrupt a derelict piece of property and restart the home ’s eating house concern .
Problem is , across the road from the Kadams ' new home ( one hundred foot aside , to be exact ) is one of the more prestigious French restaurants in the country - a well - oil political machine run by the hard - working proprietress Madame Mallory ( Helen Mirren ) . At first the two establishments go to warfare , but over time the deoxyephedrine begins to thaw between them - especially as Ms. Mallory comes to realize that Hassan ’s unusual appreciation for Indian and Gallic culinary art mean he possesses all the more potential to become a great chef .
Hundred - Foot Journeyis a film adjustment of the novel write by Richard C. Morais , which feature powerhouse Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey serve as manufacturer and Steven Knight ( Locke ) on screenwriting duties . The cultural clash drama / comedy setup advert upon military issue concerning racial / division - found tensions and related problems in Europe , but unlike the gritty societal Platonism drama / thrillers that Knight has written in the past tense ( see : unsporting Pretty Things , Eastern Promises , etc.)Hundred - Foot Journeyadds a spoonful of pelf to help the medicine go down easier .
On the whole , Hundred - Foot Journeytends to be quite predictable and lacking in subtly when it fare to presenting its themes ; at the same metre , though , it ’s cleanly - structured ( thanks to Knight ’s full-strength and tidy contraction of the source material ) and , overall , the moving picture knead as magic and generally light - hearted amusement that ’s appropriate for a family audience . Part of the credit for that also goes to director Lasse Hallström ( Chocolat , Salmon Fishing in the Yemen ) , who delivers a mixing of drama , comedy , and romance that is on the whole pleasant , well - paced , and perfectly bighearted , visually - speaking .
Hallström and his director of photography Linus Sandgren ( American Hustle ) fill just about every frame ofHundred - Foot Journeywith either a sunlight - bathed backcloth and/or a lovely shot of the locating in France where the picture was filmed ; the film ’s use of one-time - fashioned redaction conversion between scenes ( ex . curtain wipes ) only add to the right belief . The only problem is that such technical elements do n’t really bring out any deep import in the account , so by the end , Hundred - Foot Journeyfeels closer to being a pretty postcard instead of a rich house painting .
Helen Mirren is the most recognizable star inHundred - Foot Journey(and thus , she ’s been sport to a great extent in the motion-picture show ’s marketing ) , but in a bracing twirl the story is not just about Hassan - it ’s also very much told from his perspective . Manish Dayal add a squeamish blending of wide of the mark - eyed innocence , determination , and exposure to the grapheme with his performance , making Hassan ’s journeying gratifying to view ( even though you ’ll know before of timeexactlywhere it ’s headed ) .
Similarly , Charlotte Le Bon as Marguerite - an up and come chef who work for M. Mallory and befriends Hassan early on - has an easy - going chemistry with Dayal and is givenjustenough meaty script cloth to allow the part to feel like more than a run of the mill romanticist interest . The relationship between Mirren and Dayal ’s reference feels authentic and helps to drive the patch onwards , but Le Bon and Dayal ’s spiritual link is what forms the quiver " philia " ofHundred - foundation Journey .
Mirren ’s storyline inHundred - Foot Journeyrevolve largely around her acquire relationship with Om Puri as Hassan ’s father ; the pair might even spend more screen prison term together with one another than with Dayal , for that matter . Either way , Mirren and Puri help to ground their characters and bring more humanity to two people who could ’ve easy follow off more as cultural stereotype ( the uptight Gallic adult female and outspoken Indian father , severally ) . Again , many a filmgoer will be capable to pick out the final destination of their subplot well before it gets there , but the role player make the trip worth taking anyway .
That’sHundred - Foot Journey , is a nutshell : quite downy and conventional , yet perfectly easy to sit back and enjoy thanks to the solid direction , affable performances from the cast of characters , and a rousing original account by Oscar - victor A.R. Rahman ( Slumdog Millionaire ) . Which is to say , The Hundred - Foot Journeyis a by the number , yet charming , bighearted , and well - acted dramedy that the whole family can delight . Those who are in the mood to watch a foodie flick that ’s easy on the optic and provide just about something for everyone ( well , selection for little tyke , that is ) , might desire to believe giving this one a look at some point .
Charlotte Le Bon and Manish Dayal in ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
TRAILER
The Hundred - Foot Journeyis now playing in U.S. theaters . It is 122 minutes long and is Rated PG for thematic element , some furiousness , language and brief sensualism .
Charlotte Le Bon and Manish Dayal in ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
Om Puri, Manish Dayal and Helen Mirren in ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
