The Mistress of Spices

The Mistress of Spices

The Mistress of Spices

The Mistress of Spices

Mistress of Spices can be watched just once. The story line is downright amateurish. The Mistress of Spices has weird rules. Aishwarya Rai looks pretty, but has no role to play. She just stands and twinkles her eyes, coy and shy, reserved, steeped in age old tradition and modesty, wrapped in Indian sarees. Doug (McDermott) acts much better, has more expression to his face, delivers his lines well. The customers to her shop add color, contrast and variety. But they have no serious roles. They all look lost and scattered, like little kids who have memorized their lines and come to get a pound of garlic or some crushed almond powder. It is like when you know which spices provide what relief, I would not visit that store again. Would you? Garlic - an aphrodisiac, okay. Lotus Root - for love eternal, and so on. The lines in the script are so artificial and do not hold up. They are so weak. The narration by Aishywarya Rai just does not cut it. It is so poorly delivered without any inflections to tone of voice and plain. In the middle of the story, the plot deviates to some Indian hut (for no reason) and comes back. The story did not do the movie justice and the script poorly written. The actors looked lost except Doug (McDermott). The Mistress of Spices if forever locked up in her store. Hmm! A Cinderella Motif without relief. Jacob David.

The number one appeal that this film had for me, is to see Aishwarya Rai in action. I've never seen the movies of Miss World '94, and missed out on Bride and Prejudice. Written by the same team, Mistress of Spices is a mythical tale which makes the Indian spices the star of the movie, set in a medicinal store, with Rai as the conjurer and mixer of modern day "bomoh" like medicine to cure mankind of their ills. Some might not like the way the movie presented itself, with its cheesy focus and voice-over on the qualities of the various spices. Granted, it's like going to your medicinal hall, or clinic, and doing a closeup feature on the medicines and roots, characterizing them. And with the obvious red chili being the signal of danger, it's a tad simplistic. However, the way that the spices are shot, made them look beautiful in their sacks or glass bottles. Hidden behind these herbs is the mistress Tilo (Rai, meaning sesame seed), whose precognitive powers are granted to her by the spices. OK, so I had a corny joke running each time Tilo asked the spices to speak to her - isn't she doing a Muad'Dib thingy like Dune's Paul Atreides? Anyway besides the mistress helping her customers with their daily troubles by selling them wonderfully nice sounding concoctions, in comes Dylan McDermott's Doug. Better known for his leading role in the television series The Practice, he's the man unknowingly seducing Tilo from her mission in life. You see, being a mistress has its rules, and they are to never let another skin touch yours (ooh, touchy), to never step out of the shop (that's pretty restrictive and a possible loop hole) and not to concoct anything for one's own benefit. So while trying her best to stay away from the good looking man, the movie spins into a tale of forbidden love, with punishment meted out by the powers that be dwelling within those spices - I tell you, they're quite vengeful. And as if it couldn't decide, there's an underlying reminder for Indians based overseas about never forgetting their roots and culture, to never fall for the enticing decadent lifestyle of the foreigners. But screw all that, the real star of the show is Rai. I'm already smitten by her huge twin green-blue expressive eyes with lives of their own. You could just focus on them, and they could tell you a story already. And yes, that chili-red sari, is uber hot! Guess my to-watch movies is piling up already, with Bollywood added to the list. Rai fans probably won't want to miss this, despite the movie's relatively weak and fluffy plot.

THE MISTRESS OF SPICES has some of the most beautiful use of color and texture in the form a magical Spice Bazaar that has graced a DVD. It also has as its protagonist the very beautiful Aishwarya Rai and the love interest of the always-reliable Dylan McDermott. The story was created and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges (with help from Gurinder Chada) who has given us such fine films as "Paris, je t'aime', 'Bride & Prejudice' and 'Bend It Like Beckham'. So the question arises as to why this film just doesn't quite make it: the reason may be the tough marriage of fantasy with reality, assigning more importance to dialog between the Mistress and the spices than to the development of storyline. Tilo (the ravishingly beautiful Aishwarya Rai) was taken in as a child by a spiritually inclined First Mother (Zohra Sehgal) who trains young girls the mysteries of spices - their magic, their meaning and their rigid life style imposed on the developing Mistresses. Those who gain the secrets of the spices are sent into the world, warned never to use the magic for them selves, never to touch human skin, and never to leave the shops where their spices are shared to help mankind. Tilo moves to the Bay Area and does good deeds for her customers until she meets Doug (Dylan McDermott) who needs her care after a motorcycle accident. They touch, their eyes speak of mutual desire and Tilo is thrown into conflict of being a mistress of spices or of having a love life. How situations and destiny work through the story is the meager line of the tale, the majority of the script is Tilo communicating with her spices! The cast contains some fine character actors such as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Caroline Chikezie, Anupam Kher, and of course Zohra Sehgal. And there is enough statement about immigrant status in America to keep the story topical. THE MISTRESS OF SPICES entertains and that is a pleasure. Just don't expect a film on the level of director Paul Mayeda Berges' other works. Grady Harp

I went to this film because it was advertised as being in the "Bend It Like Beckham" vein, which was not only a misleading come-on, but in the end also a film as ineffective as the real Beckham in the recent World Cup. Right from the beginning the viewer has to wonder about the motivation. Why on earth does Tilo go to San Francisco and why is she designated the Mistress of Spices? Yes, of course, there is small reference to the upheavals and uprisings in India and going to San Francisco could have been for reasons of escape. However, this is not made at all clear and the next time we see Tilo she is in her spice shop greeting a number of stereotyped types with trivial, boring dialogue. It doesn't stand very well on its own but when compared to other culturally-centric films such as "Like Water for Chocolate," "East is East," it brings up the bottom of the spice barrel. You'd be better off going to a good Indian restaurant rather than wasting your time and money on this film.

The Mistress Of Spices truly captures the essence of a pertinent story. It is an inspiring tale of a woman who has dedicated her life to the tradition she has lived by all her life. At a young age she discovers she can see things others could not. But of course, villains enter and want to use 'her gift' to find their fortune. Without revealing too much she finally ends up at her destiny and is transported from India to America to live as The Mistress Of Spices. There she runs a spice shop and continues to help her customers with her spices without revealing the true meaning and job of them. She has the ability to see into their lives and is therefore capable of helping them. Of course for the spices to work she has to live by significant rules, she is never allowed to step outside her store, never touch another skin, never fall in love and love and live only for the spices. Tilo is a character of true devotion that has never visualised temptation until she meets Doug. They immediately are attracted to each other, and she starts falling in love with him. The more she falls in love with him, the spices begin to go crazy. And her customers are then punished for her actions. Tilo is given a choice, should she disown the spices and start a new life with Doug, where her customers will be punished or should she stay faithful to the spices and lose the man she loves forever. Aishwarya Rai truly captures the character of Tilo and gives an outstanding performance. She is brilliant in this movie and her on screen chemistry with Dylan McDermott is obvious too. Her appearance in simple at the beginning but she becomes more glamorous and extremely beautiful towards the end. Dylan McDermott also portrays his character well. Doug, a man who appears to have everything but feels empty. Overall the film is a huge success, Paul Berges has directed with true brilliance and truly captured the title, 'The Mistress Of Spices.'

When the chillies in a spice shop get more on screen attention than the leading man in a romance, you've got yourself big, big problems. Here are just a few: She's not allowed to touch a human... SHE'S RUBBING HER COUSIN'S HAND 5 MINUTES IN! Does every Indian now living in San Francisco have a history blighted by parricide!? When a film relies on over 50% of it's dialogue through the source of spoken thought it is corrupt of imagination. On a more general note: Mistress of the Spices is a poor story poorly told. It's cliché ridden; the dialogue is shocking; the acting is unconvincing and the directing woefully one dimensional. Aishwarya Rai does indeed have stunning eyes - but does the camera really need to give us close-ups of them every 4 minutes!? There is nothing to recommend this febrile nonsense. It is patronising to both the Sub-Continent and the West and, as a metaphor, is as involving as if she'd have ran a DIY store. Actually... If you're a fan of film and want to see how to get everything wrong - watch this. If you think time is too precious, have a curry instead - it's infinitely more authentic and satisfying.

I also saw this at the Toronto Inter. Film Festival last week. There were three screenings of the movie, each sold out as far as I know. Although Toronto has a very large Indian population, Indians were a small percentage of the audience at my screening. A few additional comments to the earlier review: The director, producer, author, and Dylan McDermott were at my screening to answer questions. Apparently Gurinder has wanted to make a movie of the book ever since it was published. Chitra Divakaruni, the author, said she was very happy with the movie even though in some ways it is different from the book. The movie tried to retain the spirit of the book even though some details have changed. For example, the young Tilo is captured by pirates in the movie, but escapes very quickly and swims to the island; when she goes to Oakland she keeps her own body (thank God!)and doesn't turn into an old woman, etc.--in other words,the movie tries to keep to the main story and avoids complications as much as possible. The main problem I had with the movie is that it is very important to accept the magical atmosphere. But the movie starts with Tilo already in the spice shop in Oakland, then shows how she got there in a series of flashbacks. If you don't already know the story, I think that makes it harder to accept. Presenting the story in chronological order, as the book does, might have been better since you could understand the magic from the beginning instead of starting off in Oakland (which is not a very magical place to most people). Another issue was the stories of the various customers--these stories are necessary to show the various magical effects of the spices, but too much of that would distract you from the main story. I think the balance was just about right, but there were some loose ends--I would like to have seen just a bit more of the Padma Lakshmi character, for example. It was these side stories that added the humor to the movie. I am a huge Aishwarya fan, and I was happy. She did a very good job, and for once the director allowed the camera to spend some time focusing on her face instead of cutting away immediately, and there were a lot of close-ups. Naturally Aishwarya was in almost every scene. The story itself is fairly simple. Since Aishwarya can't leave the store, there's not a lot of action--how many times can you pick up a handful of spices and make it interesting? But you got involved in the characters and wanted them to get together. When they finally have their night of passion, they kiss almost everywhere but the lips...I assume to keep the taboo of Indian films. The director made the wise choice of going for close-ups as Dylan undresses her--very erotic.