Bend It Like Beckham

Fresh, that's how I would characterize this film. It has a great sense of what's funny about an Indian girl from a traditional family wanting to play soccer instead of getting married like her sister. (Keep an eye out for the "aloo gobi" kitchen scene.) Someone also spent their time working on the soccer scenes. The camerawork and the music act together to make you feel that soccer is THE sport, and why have you been wasting your time with anything else? An added benefit is learning about traditional Indian culture (watch Monsoon Wedding if you want to learn even more). But why, oh why, do they have to ruin nice, sweet films like this with cliches? I was gritting my teeth at the ending. Of course the boy and girl have to get together in the end (it can't be more obvious, so I don't think I'm giving anything away). Of course the sister has to get married and be pregnant at the end. Bleah. Why not do something totally original like making it clear that even though the girl wants to play soccer and is breaking her family's heart because of it, she still loves her family, comes from their tradition, and respects it to some degree. So, no kissing the boy until you're engaged! I'm probably asking too much.

year: 2002
length: 112 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286499/combined