*** Official "BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more traffic in this thread. Bend It Like Beckham is definitely a winner and seems to have been performing well in limited release. I guess it hasn't hit enough markets yet.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, I met Parminder Nagra, who plays Jess, this past Friday and conducted this interview. Nothing too weighty, but I'd like to think there at least a few interesting tidbits in it. The difference in how she looks now and how she looks in the film is startling.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I received my dvd from Australia on Monday and have watched the movie again along with all of the extras. Again, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this film. The dvd is excellent and should be own by any fan of this film.

Mark,
How does she look now in comparison of playing a 18 year old versus actually being 27 years old? Too bad you didn't ask her if she been approached to do any American projects.

I hope this film continues to open more widely for others to see it.




Crawdaddy

 

[Holadem]

We'll know the distribution has gone wide when the backlash begins. "I just saw Bend It Like Beckham, and I don't get what the big deal is.

Well, I saw it yesterday and I am sorry to be the one to make your predictions come true Michael but I found it extremely formulaic. My mini review is in the alt thread.

--
Holadem

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Robert, she looks more like an adult now (which would make sense since she was playing a teen and the film was shot in 2000). I also wonder if she bulked up a little for the film, not that she's heavy by any means, because she looked smaller than one might have expected based on the movie. FWIW, she was quite charming, down to earth, and well spoken. (While I haven't done a lot of interviews with actors, I've done enough interviews to know that a lot of people speak disjointedly enough to drive you crazy in the editing room. )

As for any American projects, I don't think there's anything nailed down yet, but some stuff definitely seems to be in the works. She had just been in Los Angeles but didn't want to talk about projects that weren't finalized, which is understandable. (This was also for television. I transcribed the videotape to put online.)

From what I've been told, Beckham played pretty well here. (It opened in one theater and will likely expand to at least one more.) Fox Searchlight is taking the right tack by slowly building it because I think the word of mouth will be good. This one should stick for awhile.

As for Holadem's charge of it being formulaic, yes, I think that's true, but it's the color and warmness within the constrictions of the formula that make the film a success in my eyes.

At least in this case, I think the parents are drawn more carefully, if somewhat broadly, in that they want to protect their daughter and have good reasons for feeling the way they do. There's a little more to them than simply being roadblocks in the protagonist's path. I think the female friendship is portrayed very nicely and naturally, and the rift that comes between them is handled well.

My enthusiasm probably stems more from how the film tackles the formula rather than what it is about. I see plenty of these kinds of films--What a Girl Wants being the most recent example, I suppose--but Beckham is a richer film in subplots, characters, etc.

And, for whatever reason, I think the small British films about underdogs just happen to be a lot more entertaining, perhaps because they're relying a little more on characterization than stars in the roles. I don't know.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I loved it. Sure, it was formula all the way, but it was so perfectly assembled and just so damn funny that I couldn't help but love it. I had a much bigger smile on my face after I saw it than virtually anything else I've seen in the last year (except maybe Catch Me If You Can, which I also gobbled up like candy). Fun is the key word, I think. And I'm a real sucker for character-based comedy.

It put most if not all recent studio "comedies" to shame.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, some of the greatest films of all-time are formulaic in nature!





Crawdaddy

 

[Ted Lee]

absolutely. as i said in my opening paragraph, there isn't a single original bone in this movie's body. but it is just so well executed that you can forgive it and (for once) just relax and enjoy the movie.

It put most if not all recent studio "comedies" to shame.

yup!

 

[Michael Reuben]

there isn't a single original bone in this movie's body

True, but they're put together in a way that breathes new life into them. In general, I find complaints about a lack of "originality" to be, well, unoriginal. All narrative artforms, whether they be dramas, films or novels, depend on conventions and familiar devices. The question is whether the author(s) can find a way to put a fresh spin on the material. Many of the greatest creations of Western art have been "genre" works.

M.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

I watched this film with my 10 yr old daughter and my wife, due to it's PG13 rating I felt a little uncomfortable at times in the film. Other than that fact both my daughter and I simply loved the film. My daughter specially was smiling and laughing throughout the film and I couldn't help think that it's a shame that the film is PG13 because the film is going to lose a lot of audience because fo this. Anyhow I do agree that the film is not very original in its story or theme, but one must accept that the treatment and final product does deserve applause. The performances of almost the entire cast is outstanding and the characters all seem so real and believable. Personally this is one film I thoroughly enjoyed and would not hesitate to recommend it to everyone else to see.

 

[Dave_P.]

For those interested DVDasian has two versions available (one all-region & one R3). Being that this is my fave movie of the year so far, I bought both versions. The all code one was first. It's NON-anamorphic LBX (despite that the box & description erroneously says it is) with DD5.1 sound and no extras. The main problem is that you can't turn the subtitles off in the normal fashion (either Korean or English with no "OFF" in the menu section). I was finally able to turn them off with some fancy menu tweaking, but this only worked on my Samsung and Daewoo players, not on my Sony, Pioneer or Panasonics).

If you have an all-code player and can't wait for the eventual US release I HIGHLY recommend the R3 Limited Edition version. It's got all the nice extras and commentary track of the R2 UK disc, but since this is R3 NTSC there is no PAL speedup. The transfer is anamorphic and is beautiful and has the 5.1 track as well. The cherry on top of this great package is that the awesome CD soundtrack is included. This is the UK version of it which includes a couple of extra songs not available on the US version, as well as dialogue snippets. For a measly $3 more than the no-frills R0 version, this should be a no-brainer if you have all-code.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I couldn't help think that it's a shame that the film is PG13 because the film is going to lose a lot of audience because fo this.

I don't think it will be too much of a problem; the PG-13 rating exists simply to allow children to see trimmed down R flicks without supervision. Many parents don't bother to monitor what their children watch.

That said, echoing my comments in the 2003 thread, this was a really vibrant sort of film. I too had a smile from ear to ear for the vast majority of the film. A really great film which deserves an audience.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Due to the success of Pirates Of The Caribbean with its star, Keira Knightley, this is being re-released nationwide this Friday. Hopefully, it gets a much wider audience this time.

~Edwin

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, since I've had my Region 4 dvd release of it for 4-5 months now, I doubt if I'll see it in the theater again.






Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Well, lucky you.

~Edwin

 

[Lew Crippen]

Due to the success of Pirates Of The Caribbean with its star, Keira Knightley, this is being re-released nationwide this Friday. Hopefully, it gets a much wider audience this time.

Are we that much different in Dallas? It’s still showing at the Angelica (4–5 shows a day). I just assumed that it was doing well everywhere.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

It's still playing in Toronto, too, and as far as I know it opened here before it opened in the States.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Are we that much different in Dallas?

It already played around my town, as well. But the full media blitz make it sound like this is its first national release as little advertising was done during its platform release earlier this year.

We'll see how well it does this time around.

~Edwin

 

[Kirk Tsai]

The emphasis put on Knightly is amazing. A few days ago the NY Times Movie page on the web had a huge ad with only her, and a quote about how sexy she is. picture

 

[Lew Crippen]

It has played here steadily for over 4 months, including some play in mainstream theaters. An pretty big article in the Dallas Morning News early on focused on local teen-age girls assessment of the film—so it got quite a bit of publicity here already.

To be sure this area (especially the northern suburbs like Plano) is a hotbed of youth soccer, so that might help.

 

[Michael Reuben]

If Fox Searchlight can keep this going into the fall, they can do a whole new campaign when Parminder Nagra joins the cast of ER.

M.