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    About This Item

    Unique ID Code: 0000061617
    Added by: DVD Reviewer
    Added on: 25/6/2004 14:01
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    Bend It Like Beckham (UK)

    9 / 10
    1 vote cast
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    Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham?
    Certificate: 12
    Running Time: 113 mins
    Retail Price: £19.99
    Release Date:

    Synopsis:
    If you`re 18, love Beckham and can bend a ball like him the world`s your oyster, right? Wrong. If you`re Jess (Parminder K. Nagra) - 18, Indian and a girl - forget it. Do you think your marriage-obsessed folks will let you play a man`s game? If you`re Jules (Keira Knightley) - 18, English and a girl - that means going to the States where the girls get paid, get sponsorship and get proper respect. Jess and Jules are well on their way with help from their coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), until they both fall in love with him...

    Special Features:
    Audio commentary with director and co-writer. Behind-the-scenes featurette including premiere footage and outtakes. Gurinder`s Indian Kitchen. Deleted scenes.

    Video Tracks:
    Widescreen Anamorphic 1.78:1

    Directed By:
    Gurinder Chadha

    Written By:



    Starring:
    Archie Panjabi
    Anupam Kher
    Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
    Keira Knightley
    Parminder Nagra

    Casting By:
    Liora Reich
    Carrie Hilton

    Soundtrack By:
    Bally Sagoo
    Craig Pruess

    Director of Photography:
    Jong Lin

    Editor:
    Justin Krish

    Costume Designer:
    Ralph Holes

    Production Designer:
    Nick Ellis

    Producer:
    Barbara von Wrangell
    Paul Ritchie
    Deepak Nayar
    Gurinder Chadha
    Paul Mayeda Berges

    Executive Producer:
    Haneet Vaswani
    Zygi Kamasa
    Simon Franks
    Russel Fischer
    Ulrich Felsberg

    Distributor:
    Redbus Films

    Your Opinions and Comments

    9 / 10
    Introduction
    What is this film? A comedy, a chick flick, or something else?

    The Plot
    Jess wants to play football, but she has two things against her.
    1 - she`s a girl, 2 she`s Indian.
    She is actually a pretty good footballer, and is sort of accepted by the lads playing footy in the park.
    Much less accepted by her family, where good Indian girls learn to cook and then get married, not play football.
    She meets up with another girl Jules, who plays football for a local womens team, then the problems really start.
    Trying to keep this secret, from her family who would disapprove. Then complications with the male coach, Jules mother and more.

    The Cast
    Parminder K. Nagra plays Jess very well.
    Keira Knightley plays Jules and another good performance.
    Rest of the cast are good too. There is even a long distance cameo of Mr Beckham at the end.

    The Visuals/Audio
    Visuals are fine. Sound is a 5.1 mix, but as its another dialogue based film doesn`t really require it.


    The Extras
    A number of cute extras.
    Audio commentary with the director and co-writer - only listen to this a bit.
    Behind the scenes featurette including premiere footage and outtakes - the usual sort of stuff and not too back-slappy for once.
    Gurinder`s indian kitchen - quite delightful short as the writer and director takes you through the details of cooking Aloo-Gobi, with a couple of aged relatives looking over her shoulder and tut-tutting at her efforts. Quite amusing!
    Deleted scenes - some bits that didn`t make it. Nothing staggering here.

    Summary
    The plot is probably a little predictable in retrospect, but acts as a good vehicle.
    There is plenty of humour along the way. An empowering movie, and quite heartwarming.
    Certainly worth a watch.
    posted by Julian Onions on 26/6/2004 16:48