COURTESY OF LAXMI PICTURES
Anju, played by Madhur Jaffrey, middle, wants her daughter Nina, played by Sheetal Sheth, left, and son Raj, played by Faran Tahir, right, to keep their Asian-Indian culture strong.
Filmmaker Krutin Patel is eager to tell his story of one Asian-Indian family's struggle to assimilate in their adopted American home -- so much so that "ABCD" rushes through its storyline to its detriment. Film generates bitter
aftertaste, little else
"ABCD"
Not Rated
Playing at Wallace Art House at Restaurant Row
Review by Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comThe title acronym means "American Born Confused Desi," a phrase uttered with a derisive tone at an Indian wedding reception toward Nina (Sheetal Sheth), a feisty and beautiful young woman who struggles with her desire to break away from the conservative cultural values represented by her domineering and widowed mother Anju (veteran actress Madhur Jaffrey). She finds a sympathetic shoulder to lean on in her big brother Raj (Faran Tahir), who is trying to come to terms with his ethnicity and social position in his stressful accounting job.
Raj is the obedient one, his mother's favorite, as he's been long engaged to an Indian woman. Nina, on the other hand, seems to recklessly bed any white guy she takes a fancy to, including a well-moneyed suitor who tries to win her back.
He and the other white ancillary characters in "ABCD" are so broadly drawn that they seem to be caricatures, and that's just one of the nagging problems with this film. It's the victim of a trap that dogs most independent, ethnic American filmmakers, which is the widely held feeling that racial wrongs and misconceptions must be boldly addressed and forced into storylines, or else be accused of betraying or shortchanging "the righteous cause."
Or you can also chalk it up to Krutin Patel's own inexperience. Patel is a 1988 graduate of New York University with a dual major in film and finance. In making his first feature, he made sure to use as many Asian-Indian technicians as possible, and with his three main actors, tried to re-create the familial and personal conflicts that commonly bedevil immigrants.
While Jaffrey, Tahir and Sheth have strong screen presences, Patel's weak direction and screenplay don't give their performances justice. Even with the marquee stature of someone like Jaffrey (who is also the film's executive producer), her character, as well as those of her children, end up generating little sympathy. That can be blamed on Patel's ham-fisted editing that needlessly cuts back and forth between characters, rather than letting scenes play out in one uninterrupted take.
In his attempt to compress as many provocative scenarios as possible in "ABCD," Patel doesn't allow his audience to get into his characters' dilemmas and empathize with them. What's left is a blur of dramatic conflicts, leaving one with the sense of "why should I care?"
THE AUDIENCE'S frustrations could be exemplified in the character of Ashok (Aasif Mandvi), a naive recent immigrant and childhood friend of Nina's, who offers her the emotional intimacy she needs. Their scenes together offer some of the more promising moments in "ABCD," especially one as they sort out their relationship in the sterile surroundings of a fast-food restaurant.
By film's end, conflicts have been supposedly resolved, and with the exception of the unhappy mother, the children have resigned themselves to what feels like wrong-headed decisions. You get the feeling that their lives, if they continued after the film's end, would be fated to continue in a cycle of constant struggle and long-term unhappiness.
And maybe that's what Patel meant to leave with his audience, a bitter, melancholy aftertaste. It's just too bad we weren't given a chance to care.
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