The Hundred Foot-Journey/Rated PG/Dir. by Lasse Hallstrom/Touchstone Pictures/122 min.
Many people in the world of film criticism view few terms as vile, as reprehensible, or as distasteful as the term "feel-good" and I've never quite understood why. A happy film that shows flawed people learning to do kind things can still be artful, thoughtful, interesting, and entertaining. Just because a movie makes no bold political statements or doesn't show humanity at its worst doesn't mean that movie is unworthy. If anything, I believe that happy films that are well made with strong and inspiring messages are necessary to balance out the nihilistic and pessimistic output that Hollywood labels as high drama or Oscar-bait.
If there was ever a film to wear the "feel-good" label with warmth, style, and class, that film is The Hundred-Foot Journey. While the film certainly deals with serious issues, including death, racism and social elitism, it never loses sight of the main goal, which is to uplift, inspire, and make you smile for two hours straight. Oh, and to make you hungry. Really, really hungry.
The Hundred Foot-Journey tells the story of Hassan Kadan (Manish Dayal), a young man from Mumbai, India who was taught all of the subtlety and depth of Indian cooking from his mother in their family restaurant ever since he was a young boy. Even neighborhood marketeers favor the boy because he innately understands the art of transforming foods.
An unfortunate family tragedy forces the Kadan family, headed by Papa (Indian film star Om Puri), to move to Europe to find a new place to showcase Hassan's exceptional cooking talents. After a car accident leaves them stranded in a small French village, Papa sees an old restaurant for sale and is convinced that this village needs to experience the spice and the heat of Indian food. Unfortunately, the restaurant is right across the street (one-hundred feet across to be precise) from a highly respected restaurant of fine, classical French cuisine owned by the stubborn and snobbish Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) and a culture war is unleashed on the village. However, Madame Mallory's prejudices begin to fade as she witnesses first hand the talent of the young master chef living in the Maison Mumbai.
Based on the best-selling book by Richard C. Morais and produced by not one, but two Hollywood titans (Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey), The Hundred-Foot Journey is precisely the type of brilliant counter-programming that the late summer needs and, in fact, thrives on. Where years past have given us Julie and Julia and The Help, this year it's cuisine and learning to understand and appreciate different cultures that saves us from the unending explosions of summer movies. It's certainly a film made for grown-ups, but one that is perfectly clean and family-viewing appropriate, which should play in its favor over the closing weeks of summer.
Few people can film food better than Lasse Hallstrom (the director that brought you the similarly themed Chocolat) and every stroll through the market, every careful preparation of ingredients, and every presentation of an impeccably mouth-watering meal is filmed with a lush grace. This is certainly a film that you shouldn't view if you're hungry. Unless, of course, you're going out to dinner afterwards. Preferably for Indian or French food.
The acting in The Hundred-Foot Journey is uniformly excellent. While the always superb Mirren is understandably the focal point of the advertising, this is Dayal's movie and he plays Hassan with a kind and natural warmth. Thankfully, the film does not treat its characters as caricatures, a trap into which many American films dealing with Indian culture tend to fall.
The Hundred-Foot Journey is a movie more interested in winning hearts than awards and it's all the better for it. The current mixed-reviews that this film is receiving is far more indicative of the cynicism prevalent in much of the film criticism community than it is of the quality of this purely delightful film. I walked in the theater expecting an OK little movie and left with a wide grin and a full heart. If you are tired of giant robots destroying cities and superheroes dealing with the existential crisis du jour, run to the theater and relish this delicious French pastry of a film. It is a feel-good movie in all the best meanings of the phrase.
Grade: A
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