Rating: 
Summary: A MARIGOLD-EATING-GOOD-TIME!
Review: A delightful romp thru the four days prior to the wedding of the only daughter of the Verma family of northern India. The cast is great and we have a whole different perspective of the tight knit families of the modern day east Indian culture. Hand held camera, and great music...hold this film together. We have merriment of the older women on contemplating their own arranged marriages. There is extra marital sexual activity of the bride to be, and her agonizing on having to tell her to be husband. There is child abuse of the sexual kind, but, not graphic. And how they deal with it is by ousting the culprit from the family circle, which in the case of this culture is more punishment than calling in the police. The wedding planner is a joy as he goes thru decorating and haggling with the father of the bride over money.Dubney rages around eating whole marigold flowers and yelling at his workers who have been with him for four years. Dubney's mother is on his back about giving her grandchildren. Alas, Dubney falls for the servant girl at the Verma house, and laments to his friends that it is time he got married and settle down and have a family. After almost loosing her he goes all out and builds a shrine with flowers and candles and a heart made out of marigolds. She is impressed and they become engaged. A delightful character is Dubney the wedding planner. The people are beautiful an you care for them. It is refreshing to see a culture still embracing the family and its goals, with it's up's and down's , but in the end the main body of the family, still intact. The last scenes are marvelous with the music, dancing, swirling bright colors and the groom enters on horseback. Monsoon rains... it was great!! These little foreign movies are a great relief from the stoic efforts of our picture industry, and I hope there are more for us in the future. Please go out and see this film and support the imports. The captions are easy to overcome.
This review is for the theatrical release not the dvd!!
ciao yaaah69
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful film....
Review: I am not familiar with Indian culture at all, but I loved this film. The story, which takes place over about a week's period of time leading up to a wedding, held my interest for the entire film. For those who have never been to India, or who do not personally know anyone from India, it was nice to see a wide variety of personality types in the film. (I think here in the States, we have certain stereotypes of India.... dirty, poor, etc., but this film showed many different sides of the country). The film was also beautifully filmed. As an appreciator of cinematography, costume design and nature, I was sitting through much of the film with a big smile on my face, as I watched the beautiful colors of the saris, the abundant use of flowers in the film, and some of the dancing. The soundtrack was also wonderful. Prior to this film, I assumed I did not like "Indian music", but apparently I'd only been exposed to one type of Indian music.... that stereotypical style where the women sing in a very high, sing-songy pitch. This film once again brings the point home that, contrary to popular stereotypes, ALL cultures have a wider range of emotions, personalities, artistic qualities than we are often led to believe.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Tapestry
Review: The story, the acting, the cinematography, the music, the sets and the moral intent were woven together to create a perfect movie experience.
It's less than 1 hour since leaving the theater where we saw this film. I have visions of the tent flaps waving in the wind; the womens' arms waving above their heads; the marigold petals flying everywhere...the colors and the emotions so alive, vibrant, joyful and painful. This movie has it all and the editing is superior. Add to that brief documentary scenes of Delhi during torrential rain, on hot afternoons with dust everywhere and at night bathed in green flourescent lights.
It was beautiful.
GO SEE IT!
Rating:
Summary: Monsoon wedding
Review: Outstanding, poetic,a super portrait of India as it is today. You will laugh while the unexpected happens.
Rating:
Summary: le mariage des moussons
Review: I saw this movie two days ago. Original version with subtitles, thank God (I positively hate dubbed movies). So there I was, watching this movie which was neither spoken nor subtitled in my native language. Did that take any of the magic away from it? NO WAY. This has been one of the most fulfilling cinematic experiences of the past 6 months (the other two are "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulin" and "Hable con ella", the latest Almodovar film). This is the wonderful story of a family coming together to celebrate the wedding of a young girl who is not so sure she wants to marry some guy her parents chose. There are many parallel stories, one of them even upstages the main one. Cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws, everyone is interesting, moving, funny or all three at the time. The costumes are gorgeous, the music fits the movie wonderfully and the party scenes made me want to jump into the screen and join them. This a movie for everyone who appreciates the similarities we find in our differences. I was born in Colombia and raised in Venezuela (South America) and I haven't met many Indians in my life, but my own cultural background helped me appreciate the traditions depicted in this movie. Besides, family and love are universal and we can all relate to that, regardless of language (or subtitles...).
Rating:
Summary: Whatta Wedding!
Review: I was thoroughly delighted with "Monsoon Wedding", which shows all the attendant problems with an upper middleclass family wedding in India. It was interesting to see how it is similar and yet different from the wedding woes encountered by my various married friends. Of course, one big difference is that this is an arranged marriage, as the family daughter has decided to cash it in and get married, since her married lover doesn't look like he's going to ever get himself untangled for her sake. Another interesting complication is the gradual undercovering of a dark family secret concerning an old uncle and his hostile niece. But there are mostly laughs in "Monsoon Wedding", as the jaded wedding planner finally gets the itch himself when he notices the quietly loyal family maid who treats him with unaccustomed kindness. Then there's the dad's wars with his lumpy teenage son who wants to dance at the wedding more than anything else. Shades of Spencer Tracy's "Father of the Bride", Indian style! Send in your rsvp and settle down at this wedding feast!
Rating:
Summary: You'll laugh, cry, cheer, and want to dance!
Review: Having lived outside the USA, I've known and socialized with many Indian expat workers and their families. The movie made me homesick for my expatriate life because this film accurately depicts Indians like the ones I knew. Monsoon Wedding is a real story with real people. When I saw the wedding celebrations I wanted to leap from my seat and join the singing and dancing.
Rating:
Summary: A celebration of life, family, love and ceremony
Review: If you've never seen a film produced in India, treat yourself now with MONSOON WEDDING. The Verma family, residents of Delhi, is caught up in the ceremony of a lifetime - the arranged marriage of their only daughter, Aditi (Vasundhara Das). The father, Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah) worries constantly about the weather and the cost of the engagement and wedding ceremonies, both taking place within a couple days of each other. Vijay Raaz plays P.K. Dube, the glib Event Manager, whose cavalier handling of the arrangements may certainly justify Lalit's concerns. The mother, Pimmi (Lillete Dubey), has the formidable task of playing hostess to an extended family arriving from near and far. And how about the bride? Well, she's not sure her parents' choice of a groom, Hemant (Parvin Dabas), is a good one. Hemant is a "non-resident Indian", over from the U.S. where he works as a computer programmer, and Aditi is in lust with a married man closer to home. Can Aditi make a go of it with her betrothed? For awhile, the audience may struggle with keeping track of who's who as the guests continue to arrive. (Indeed, it still isn't clear to me the familial relationship of some minor players.) But, by the end of MONSOON WEDDING, one cares deeply about the characters, and this ability to inspire empathy is one of the film's major delights. I especially liked Lalit's role. Not only does Dad have to worry about being overcharged by Dube and the threat of rain, but he's also coping with a rebellious young son and the possibility that an old family friend is being just a touch too friendly with an underage female relative. The biggest surprise is P.K. Dube. As the film opens, he's too slick for his customers' good and audience sympathy. However, he attracts the eye - or is it vice versa? - of the Verma family's maid, Alice (Tilotama Shome). There's one memorable scene involving lots of candles and a heart made of marigolds that caused me to whisper to my wife, "Now, that's romantic!" By the film's conclusion, PK is redeemed. MONSOON WEDDING was scripted with more than a little singing and dancing. And the traditional Indian costumes are an exotic explosion of color and style. The taking of the family wedding portrait again caused me to whisper in my wife's ear, "Now, that's a wedding photo." (Gee, I hope she doesn't think I'm becoming less of a curmudgeon.) Make the extra effort to see MONSOON WEDDING, then recommend it to all your friends. Americans get too comfortable with their steady diet of glitzy, improbable, FX-laden thrillers. This film returns you to a universally human happening, and it's a joy to behold.
Rating:
Summary: Monsoon Experience
Review: If you love chaos (and who doesn't on occasion), you'll love Monsoon Wedding. But if you like a bit of order everey once in a while, if you want to hear people speaking in normal tones of voice (i.e., less than an hysterical shout) and if you want everything to work out well in an understandable way, then you should avoid this movie. The characters are cartoons and the setting is nothing short of claustrophobic, but that shouldn't cause any problem so long as you never ask the question "What's going on here?" I imagined that the movie took place in Los Angeles and that helped, but alas, it was India. It's not Mississippi Masala, but it is a darned sight better than most Bollywood films. The plot reminded me of British cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, and the acting seemed so much like slice-of-life that I had to consult my wrist-watch clock-calendar to make sure I hadn't boarded a time machine. But in the end it was all great fun.
Rating:
Summary: See this Film
Review: SEE THIS FILM! It was such a great experience. It conveyed emotions in a sincere and compelling manner. I was cheering in the good part and feeling sad along with the characters. After the movie I was so intrigued that I ate a small marigold. It also made me miss my family get-togethers. You will love this movie.
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