Such a Long Journey

Rating:
Summary: I cried
Review: A beautiful film... very Indian in philosophy. Try to penetrate Indian attitudes and family mores in a film which explores family issues in a realistic depiction of life in Mumbai.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: A beautiful film... very Indian in philosophy. Try to penetrate Indian attitudes and family mores in a film which explores family issues in a realistic depiction of life in Mumbai.

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable film
Review: I had enjoyed the book and was very hesitant about seeing the film. But it remains faithful to the book, and the acting is excellent, down to the little girl. It is one of Roshan Seth's finest performances as the main character who gets sucked into a situation he doesn't completely understand. The story revolves around a Parsi family in Bombay around the time of the India-Pakistan war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. Definitely worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: I cried
Review: I still don't understand why this didn't get distributed in America. I thought it was WONDERFUL, even on the TV screen, and I was completely swept away by the film's moving story. The acting is superb, and every character is a treat, from the father to the sidewalk artist. Full of life's ironies, celebrated with a wink and a nod to human nature and its unending foibles, heartache, death, and rebirth. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. Buy it because you'll never find it in a video store (and more's the pity.)

Rating:
Summary: a day in the death of the parsee community
Review: it's easier to tell what the movie is not about-the war in bangladesha, it's only the background timing, being a parsee, although there are scenes around the tower of silence complete with sounds of vultures inside.
it is about a quiet parsee bank teller and in the background his wife. Friends die, son leaves home, he's pulled into a dangerous plot, done with great technic and attention to detail and character development. thanks for a window into bombay.
i am sorry that movies like this never seem to get a showing in America, maybe it is that we really are too shallow for thoughtful and sensitive films like this. we desire action, not thought, we desire clear cut issues, not the gentle how do i live each day authentically and true to my convictions that you see in this movie.
i like the painted wall. the images and the devotion they showed them will long remain in my memory, fondly.

richard williams

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable film
Review: Such a Long Journey is a great film that traces the hardship and happiness of the Noble family as they live their lives in the crowded streets of India. Showing the textured culture of another nation this film is a testament to family, heart and a through back to the Apu Triology.

Rating:
Summary: Such a good movie
Review: Such a Long Journey is a great film that traces the hardship and happiness of the Noble family as they live their lives in the crowded streets of India. Showing the textured culture of another nation this film is a testament to family, heart and a through back to the Apu Triology.

Rating:
Summary: Hard choices against the backdrop of 1971 Bombay
Review: This 1998 Indian film is based on a novel by Rohinton Mistry. It's set in 1971 in Bombay, at a time just before the Bangladesh war. Roshan Seth is cast as a bank clerk who lives with his wife and three children in a crowded apartment complex. He once came from a wealthy family, but all that has changed and life is a struggle. His oldest son is refusing to go to technology school and wants to be an artist, he and he wife are always bickering, and his little daughter gets sick with Malaria. There's also a mentally challenged young man who creates turmoil and an old woman who is some sort of a witch. To add to his troubles, the government wants to knock down a wall in front of his building in order to widen the road and thereby create even more pollution.

When he receives a letter from an old friend who asks for his help, he quickly says yes, even though he has to agree to receive a mysterious package. There are politics involved which I didn't understand but it didn't matter who the bad guys were because the focus was more on the personal choices made by the people.

The best part of the film was its setting. It brought me right into the city of Bombay with its overcrowding, its filth, its sounds and its people. I could almost smell the air and feel the grit on my skin. Life is difficult there, but the city was just a backdrop for the story, which I found slow but mildly interesting. The acting was so good however, that it made up for the some of the plot's shortfalls. I enjoyed the film. And recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Hard choices against the backdrop of 1971 Bombay
Review: This 1998 Indian film is based on a novel by Rohinton Mistry. It's set in 1971 in Bombay, at a time just before the Bangladesh war. Roshan Seth is cast as a bank clerk who lives with his wife and three children in a crowded apartment complex. He once came from a wealthy family, but all that has changed and life is a struggle. His oldest son is refusing to go to technology school and wants to be an artist, he and he wife are always bickering, and his little daughter gets sick with Malaria. There's also a mentally challenged young man who creates turmoil and an old woman who is some sort of a witch. To add to his troubles, the government wants to knock down a wall in front of his building in order to widen the road and thereby create even more pollution.

When he receives a letter from an old friend who asks for his help, he quickly says yes, even though he has to agree to receive a mysterious package. There are politics involved which I didn't understand but it didn't matter who the bad guys were because the focus was more on the personal choices made by the people.

The best part of the film was its setting. It brought me right into the city of Bombay with its overcrowding, its filth, its sounds and its people. I could almost smell the air and feel the grit on my skin. Life is difficult there, but the city was just a backdrop for the story, which I found slow but mildly interesting. The acting was so good however, that it made up for the some of the plot's shortfalls. I enjoyed the film. And recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: One of my most valuable "finds" this year
Review: You hear about such movies only as a matter of happenstance because they are commonly shrugged off as "art cinema" amidst India's glam-bam Bollywood cacophony. To anyone even mildly familiar with the dark underbelly of meaningful cinema in India, the star cast is enough to grab a copy of this priceless DVD -- Roshan Seth, Soni Razdan, Om Puri.

But that's not half the reason I recommend this movie whole-heartedly. Gunnarsson (an Icelander!) and Taraporewala seem to have done an immaculate job of adapting Mistry's touching eponymous novel to the screen.

This is a simple yet subtle story of a middle-aged Parsi bank employee in Bombay in the 70s and the various facets of his interactions with his immediate family, friends/neighbours, professional circle etc, sensitively exploring how these bear upon his life. Despite the period in question, I can assure you that this movie beautifully captures the typical middle-class Bombay life as it is now, in particular the nuances of a minority (Parsi) man.

Yet it manages to offer a heart-warming view of our modern condition in almost any urban setting, not just Bombay. And thankfully the characterizations do not pander to a global stereotype of the Indian middle class as normally seen in the movies of Monsoon Wedding genre for instance.

All I can say is that if you are genuinely interested in meaningful film, you won't regret watching this hidden marvel of movie making. Highly recommended.