CATRIONA PAUL at the Movies.

IF YOU FANCY a bit of romance this week, head to the cinema. Ken Loach’s new film, Ae Fond Kiss , is a classic love story about young lovers opposed by family and friends, set in Glasgow.
  
Roisin (Eva Birthistle) is a young Irish Catholic music teacher. Cassim is a second generation Pakistani Muslim, who works as an accountant but moonlights as a DJ. They meet when he comes to pick up his younger sister from school and the attraction is instant.
 
They begin a passionate relationship (Loach includes more sex in this film than any of his previous work) before Cassim reveals that his parents have set up an arranged marriage and his bride is coming to town. Cassim breaks off the engagement, which has implications for his family. Roisin has it easy by comparison until the local priest denies her a teaching certificate and she is forced to leave the RC comprehensive where she teaches.
  
Paul Laverty’s excellent script explores the scenario with understanding and credibility. Cassim’s family shows support as well as judgement, belonging alongside prescription.  His position, between cultures and expectations, is handled believably by newcomer Atta Yaqub. Eva Birthistle is strong, bravely fighting for their love. The rest of the cast fill the film with interest, if not always with craft – some of the actors coming to the film with little experience but plenty of Glasgow authenticity.
  
Loach’s previous Glasgow-based films, My Name is Joe and Sweet Sixteen, showed the director has an affinity for the place and its people. His films cover weighty issues without becoming heavy-handed; the focus never wanders from the individuals’ stories. With Ae Fond Kiss , Loach has exchanged the bleak material of the earlier films for the ultimately upbeat story of love bridging the divide – this film should prove a real crowd pleaser.
  
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Cast: Eva Birthistle, Atta Yaqub, Ahmad Riaz, Shabana Bakhsh, Gary Lewis, Ghizala Avan, Shamshad Akhtar, Gerard Kelly, David McKay, Raymond Mearns
Country: UK & Germany
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 104 mins
Year: 2004

  
© Catriona Paul, 2004