previously published on Asian Movie Pulse
It
might not be considered Asian by its production country (UK), the
origins of its writer/director Michael Winterbottom (UK,
again), or, frankly, by its style that fits the bill of a British
globe-trotting thriller, but "The Wedding Guest", showing
at Art Film Fest in Košice, deserves its Asian Movie Pulse review.
At least the filming locations were in India and Pakistan, the cast
consists of Indian-British star actors and the theme is very much
rooted in the culture Indian sub-continent, fresh, approached from an
interesting angle and wrapped up in a smooth genre-esque ride.
In
the opening montage, we get to see a still nameless, solitary man
(Dev Patel), preparing himself for the trip. The nature of his
mission is not clear yet, but is certainly clandestine, as he is
carrying multiple passports. Once in Pakistan, he travels across the
country, switching car rentals every couple hundred miles and buying
equipment he might need. The things become clearer once he arrives to
a wedding party: the man named Jay is an intelligence operative of
sorts, an extractor and his mission is kidnapping the bride at
wedding, Samira (energetic Radhika Apte), thus saving her from
the arranged marriage and delivering her to her Indian boyfriend
Deepesh (Jim Sarbh, deliciously sleazy).
The
things go south soon enough. Jay shoots a guard who interrupted him
in action and Deepesh wants nothing to do with the mission any more,
practically betraying his girlfriend. Jay ends up stuck with Samira
on the road to and across India, as it proves that she is not just a
passive victim, but a brainy woman with the taste for adventure and a
very particular angle of her own. As it turns out, her kidnapping was
a part of a grander, less romantic, but more financially lucrative
scheme involving the products of Deepesh's family trade - diamonds,
both real and fake. In the game of the intrigue that ensues, the
hired gun seems to be the most ethical and the least scheming of the
trio...
There
is nothing much to be said in the terms of a more detailed analysis
of the ensuing actions before getting deep into spoiler territory.
Basically, what we expect is what we get: a moderately tense thriller
with a road movie taste, evidently written by a seasoned screenwriter
and executed by a competent director, which Michael Winterbottom is.
"The Wedding Guest" is a solid film, though an attempt at a
love story further on was a bit underwhelming. The film is directed
with clarity, quite predictable from the perspective of a viewer with
a certain experience, never disorienting, easy to watch and to
follow.
The
acting is completely on the expected level, although the characters
seem to be quite typical with not much room left for improvisation.
Dev Patel is not one of the biggest acting names both in the UK and
in India for no reason and Radhika Apte channels her character's
feeling of being torn apart between worlds quite gracefully. On the
technical level, "The Wedding Guest" is also predictable in
a way: cinematography by Giles Nuttgens is
postcard-attractive, editing handled by Marc Richardson is
smooth, but Harry Escott's score occasionally gets too
revealing and emotionally dictating.
The
only thing "The Wedding Guest" is exceptional at is a
completely fresh, clear-eyed and no-bullsh*t take on the clash of the
cultures and traditions that don't correspond with a modern world. It
is quite refreshing to see a film that holds no punches regarding the
culture of arranged marriages, but does not dwell too much on it
either, and a film that steers clear from the post-colonial
patronizing, but does not fall into a trap of political correctness.
In the process, the female character becomes atypically sincere and
genuine about her experiences and perspectives and chooses to fight
back the only way she possibly can - using her brains.
