You can’t blame Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon for thinking that the story of their romance had the makings of a great movie. Kumail (playing himself), a Pakistani immigrant doing stand-up comedy meets graduate student (in psychology, yet), Emily (doe-eyed but tart Zoe Kazan), when she “whoo hoos” him at one of his shows.… Read More »
Ravi and Geeta Patel Want You to MEET THE PATELS
I have rarely laughed as much as I did when I spoke to Ravi and Geeta Patel on August 13, 2015, it was by Skype, with me in San Francisco, Geeta in North Carolina, and Ravi in Hollywood, but the rapport made it seem like we were all in the same room. The subject was… Read More »
BRICK LANE
All credit to director Sarah Gavron and company for taking on the task of adapting “Brick Lane”, Monica Ali’s finely realized novel to the big screen. They’ve made bold cuts, condensing the story, but not the emotions, and distilling from it the essence of a woman’s journey from darkness to light. The darkness is the overwhelming… Read More »
Sarah Gavron Visits BRICK LANE
When I spoke to Sarah Gavron at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 25, 2008, her film, BRICK LANE, was screening and she was anxious to find out what Bay Area audiences would make of it. She needn’t have worried, but then, worry was part of the process of bringing Monica Ali’s novel to… Read More »
Gurinder Chadha Can BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
When I talked with Gurinder Chadha she was hoarse from talking non-stop about her world-wide hit at the 2003 San Francisco Asian American Film Festival where it had been the opening night film. That didn’t dampen her enthusiasm, which has been going strong for over a year ever since her little film became one of the top… Read More »