Bend it Like Beckham - Oh the skills!

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tunes: Tricky - Brand New You're Retro

Quote of the day: "Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham?" - Jules, Bend it Like Beckham

Bend it Like Beckham

Jesminder (aka Jess) is a young female Indian girl who loves to play football (or as we yanks call it, 'soccer'). Her family adheres to strict Indian traditions and are overly concerned about her future, so naturally, they look down on her favorite pasttime. So far, the storyline is nothing new, something that's pretty typical in half hour TV sitcoms and hour long WB teenage dramas. Girls who want to liberate themselves from being oppressed. The freedom to do whatever the fuck they want. I'd think that a once tomboyish person such as myself would enjoy such as storyline, but you know how it goes, we all hate the things that remind us of what we hate about ourselves. That was my first impression and I was trying to push that thought out of my head so I could fairly judge this movie.

The plot is nothing new, so let's concentrate on how the story flows, how the movie direction either thrills or kills, how the actors portray their characters, do the scenes work or will it become ultimate after school special cheese? Well, these are points that I'll not discuss just because it will turn into an essay and this is just a blog AND I'm not a professional writer nor am I much of a critic. Shut up, mkat.

The director is Gurinder Chadha, whom I've never heard, but just looking at the name, she's obviously Indian. Watching the 'making of' featurette (which should always be seen, one of the extras I ALWAYS look for when I get a DVD), the story is almost autobiographical and her family members are also in the film. The difference is that her parents supported her efforts, but if they were concerned, it was fear of disappointment. I'm not familiar with her work, but I'm not familiar with any Bollywood films or actors (apparantly, the man who played Jess' father is a very famous actor, his prestige is noticeable in the film by the way he carries himself). We see a few scenes of Jess interacting with players in the park as she trashes them with her uber 1337 football skills ('the skills! The skills!') and gets noticed by Jules (cute Kiera Knightly, who's also rather skinny, but in a model way). She then recruits her to play for the Hounslow Harriers, an all-girl soccer team that is coached by Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyer, whom I paid attention to due to the fact that he was mentioned as a viable choice as Gambit for any future X-men films). Looking at Joe, it's obvious he's going to be involved in some romance with the main girls, and of course, it turns out that Jules had feelings for Joe but he has feelings for Jess. There's nothing new or surprising in the story, they fight, they play soccer, they make up, throw in some family scenes of grief over Jess' boyishness, the marriage storyline involving Jess' sister, partying, a tomboy makeover, a traditional Indian wedding, lots of sneaking around, and you pretty much have the movie.

Just because a movie isn't revolutionary or different doesn't mean that it's automatic garbage. In fact, I thought the story progressed well, the direction was tight, acting was terrific, music suited the movie (yes, lots of ex Spice Girls music), good use of humor, incorporation of Indian traditions/culture. Goes to show you can still follow a tired formula and be successful. Kinda like how JRock works. Riiiight? Or not.

I have some favorite scenes that I can remember from the movie (although I'm sure there are more, these just happen to stick out). There's a training sequence where you see Jess and Jules running in the park, and they pass by two heavyset women, one older and one younger. The younger is the director! God, don't you just LOVE it? Ha! Also, I adored the marriage and after party scenes. The Indians really know how to party. One particular scene that had me in tears was the video man brawling with the other men. Pure candy.

Interesting facts: Jess' actor is 10 years older than Kiera Knightly. Jess really -does- have a burn scar that was written into the script (nice addition, IMO, bodily insecurity, always a hot issue, especially for America and the obesity fucking epidemic). The greatest little trivia piece: Jess and Jules were originally supposed to be in love with each other, not Joe! THAT would've been one HELL of a twist!

Bend it Like Beckham gets an A. I'm sad that Beckham wasn't able to make any type of cameo appearance in the movie. That would've been the icing on the cake. I'd definitely want to pick up the DVD to add to my collection.

Today I learned: The Amish make some great fucking pastry! Also, the Flower Show attracts hordes of old women who will very slowly walk down a crowded aisle and pause and stop to look at the pastries at Termini's when they can and should just step aside so the line of people behind them can get around faster on their hour break. WHEW.