Film: Love + Hate

It's kinda refreshing to watch a film dealing with mixed relationships without Aishwarya Rai in it or one not directed by Gurinder Chadha. Not that there weren't a few common elements here, the now typically hypocritical Asian man and the innocent and naive girl who happens to fall in love for the first time ever with a white guy to name but two of them.

Still, Love + Hate still did a better job of the whole thing than the usual stuff we've been getting these past couple of years. It somehow manages to be more real and raw, relying less on gags and silly contexts and concentrating on relating the lives of the main characters to the audience instead. There is no cleverness here and hence no patronisation or lectures about how we should all be openminded.

The film has been criticised elsewhere for having a few too many coincidences - everyone seems to be connected in more than one way here (for example the convenient way in which the white boyfriend's brother randomly picks the girls dad to attack) - and so is accused of setting itself up for its main events. Personally I thought that just added to the fairytale charm of the film, making it as much of a tragedy as anything from, say, Shakespeare.

The acting of the (young) cast lets the film down at times and shines immensely at others and the direction was pretty faultless (although that spot focus was used a bit too much for my liking). But overall this was a light yet thought provoking and enjoyable discussion of the issue at hand.