Delicious! A neglected Mumbai housewife's carefully prepared lunchbox is accidentally delivered to a lonely widower and they correspond via handwritten notes taken back and forth by Mumbai's usually flawless lunch delivery service. We get to see men go to houses (and restaurants) to pick up the brightly colored bags, take them through smoggy streets on bicycles, then transport trayfuls by train as they sing to pass the time. Irrfan Khan (last blogged in Life of Pi) plays the dour 60-something claims adjuster Saajan and a radiant Nimrat Kaur is Ila, whose life is brightened by her adorable six-year-old daughter and her housebound upstairs neighbor, whom she calls Auntie when they converse through the open window all day long.
The feature debut of director/writer Ritesh Batra, this boasts 24 producers, including Khan and Lydia Dean Pilcher (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), more), but The Butler holds the Producers Plethora Prize with 39 and is unlikely to be unseated anytime this decade. Mr. Batra has directed five short films but reportedly has another feature in the works.
The lovely soundtrack, by German composer Max Richter (most recently in these pages for scoring the Saudi movie Wadjda), hasn't been released, although one song is available on youtube.
Rottentomatoes critics average a whopping 96% and audiences come in at 88. Jack and I strongly urge you to see this tender and tasty slice.
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