Lies We Tell (15.)
Directed by Mitu Misra
Starring Gabriel Byrne, Sibylla Deen, Mark Addy, Jan Uddin, Emily Atack and Harvey Keitel. 110 mins.
Brought to you by the Bradford International Film Associates, this makes the ballsy move of employing Harvey Keitel and then killing him off after one scene. He plays a rich businessman driven to meetings with his Muslim mistress (Deen) by trusted employee Byrne. The film has echoes of the classic British crime drama, Mona Lisa, as Byrne finds himself trying to protect her; it even has Addy there to fill the Robbie Coltrane best friend role. The milieu here though isn't the south coast underworld but the Muslim community in Bradford.
The film looks good but Misra's script is unfocused. There are too many strands and too little time to explore them properly. Byrne's down at heel character is no Bob Hoskins and the film loses interest in him from time to time. The plot progresses almost entirely through coincidence and chance. Its bad penny is Uddin as the Muslim gangster/ pimp (it's never really made clear what denomination of wrong'un he is), and he's always popping up at just the wrong time.
Directed by Mitu Misra
Starring Gabriel Byrne, Sibylla Deen, Mark Addy, Jan Uddin, Emily Atack and Harvey Keitel. 110 mins.
Brought to you by the Bradford International Film Associates, this makes the ballsy move of employing Harvey Keitel and then killing him off after one scene. He plays a rich businessman driven to meetings with his Muslim mistress (Deen) by trusted employee Byrne. The film has echoes of the classic British crime drama, Mona Lisa, as Byrne finds himself trying to protect her; it even has Addy there to fill the Robbie Coltrane best friend role. The milieu here though isn't the south coast underworld but the Muslim community in Bradford.
The film looks good but Misra's script is unfocused. There are too many strands and too little time to explore them properly. Byrne's down at heel character is no Bob Hoskins and the film loses interest in him from time to time. The plot progresses almost entirely through coincidence and chance. Its bad penny is Uddin as the Muslim gangster/ pimp (it's never really made clear what denomination of wrong'un he is), and he's always popping up at just the wrong time.
