The Lunchbox (***)

The serendipitous mix-up has served the basis for many a romantic comedy, but quiet drama predominates here. Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is a Mumbai housewife whose hot lunches inadvertently get routed to government worker Saajan (Irrfan Khan) instead of her husband. With minimal set-up but perhaps a touch of contrivance — how is it that the delivery service suddenly starts making the same mistake every day? — the housewife and the office worker begin a correspondence. In no time the talk turns from food to other things. The spice that goes into Ila’s delicious meals has gone out of her marriage; Saajan, a widower about to take early retirement, lives a lonely life.

And so they pass old-fashioned notes on paper while never seeing each other. The chaste exchange, which reminded me of the 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road, is as much about the need to unburden oneself as about the very gentle romantic subtext. The two leads serve as somewhat idealized recipients these wishes folded in paper, and the appeal of the film is very much about the lovely idea that one might accidentally find such a person. The only other significant character is the man who will replace Saajan at his job, although Ila has an upstairs neighbor who is heard, but not seen. For those who enjoyed the view of Mumbai in Slumdog Millionaire, this movie presents it as equally bustling, but a little less terrifying.


Inasmuch as the two main characters have not met and do not really know each other, the ending carries the story forward, but not too far, and that seems just right.

IMDb link

viewed 4/3/14 7:10 pm at Ritz East and posted 4/3/14

Horrible Bosses (***)

This buddy comedy overcomes its perfunctory set-up. It doesn’t convince us that these nice guys would really off their bosses, and it’s too reliant on easy sex jokes. But once it gets past that beginning and on to the part where the three pals (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) try to execute the executions, it becomes a somewhat inspired, and certainly funny, riff on criminal bumbling.

IMDB link

viewed 6/29/11 at Ritz east [PFS screening] and reviewed 7/7/11

The Boss of It All (***)

I rarely think this about a foreign film, but this would be a great movie for Hollywood to remake, notwithstanding that it was made by artsy-fartsy Danish auteur Lars von Trier. The director himself appears on screen to let us know this will not be “difficult,” but merely a comedy. Presumably this sort of notice that not all will be serious is necessary for those familiar with films such as Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Antichrist. But the premise alone is delicious enough to provoke a smile here. An actor with delusions of greatness (Jens Albinus) is hired to briefly portray an IT company’s absent company president, only to find his assignment extended so that he must become what he pretends to be. It turns out that the boss is actually the fictitious creation of the company’s founder, who prefers to shield himself from blame for his unpopular decisions.

Von Trier is no longer using the rigid Dogme rules for shooting his films, but instead uses Automavision, whereby a computer selects how a scene will be shot. The result seems more natural than with the handheld (i.e. slightly shaky) cameras of Dogme, but I thought that a story that would lend itself to zippy screwball comedy comes off more like an episode of The Office. That can still be pretty funny when the actor, obsessed by the pedantic theories of a pretentious playwright, is forced to improvise. And the way the company’s potential buyers, a pair of Icelanders, display their contempt for their former colonial overlords, is all the more amusing for being, to an American, an obscure avenue for comedy. Minus this and one or two other things (e.g., the unnecessary voiceovers), I see Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges as the leads in the American remake.

IMDB link

viewed 1/25/10 on DVD and reviewed 1/26/10

Severance (***1/2)

Think of The Office (the British version, thank you) reconfigured as a horror film and you get close to the sensibility of this bloody funny movie set in the woods of Eastern Europe. A motley group of coworkers for a weapons manufacturer has gathered for a corporate retreat. There’s the pothead, the tool of a boss, the American girl, and so on.

As one thing after another goes wrong, tensions flare, and that’s before anyone spots the large person stalking them. Well, anyone except the audience, who’s seen the opening teaser with the scared man hanging from the tree, and the pothead, whom the other characters don’t believe. The horror storyline is only a little better than the usual crazy-man-with-a-chainsaw scenario, but it’s deployed for maximum suspense.

The mayhem is extremely, though briefly, gruesome in a couple of places. The humor is welcome and demonstrates some of the personality of the characters. But it never undercuts the scares, which aren’t played for laughs.

In sum, terrifyingly funny.

[reviewed 5/31/07]

IMDB link