breadhips Reviews

The Chronicles of Nadiya (2016)

Watch it as a comedy.

[3/10 · 6 April 2024]

Why oh why did she agree to do this?

Nadiya's journey back to Bangladesh after years abroad is marked by tension as she encounters family members she's never met before, who seem apprehensive about her presence. Throughout the documentary, she frequently criticizes various aspects of the culture, food, and hygiene, often making backhanded comments while speaking in English to the camera. Despite her discomfort, she attempts to conceal her true feelings from her family. The pervasive sense of unease is heightened by constant male presence around her. Her interactions include disparaging remarks about the preparation of garlic, critiques of attendees at a wedding, and misrepresentations of her family's reaction to her cooking. The documentary offers a complex and compelling glimpse into Nadiya's conflicted return to her homeland however it is edited and presented as if the trio is a giant success, this is NOT the case.

This is a truly disingenuous mess that I couldn't take my eyes off.

Coffee Wars (2023)

Starts bad, never picks up.

[4/10 · 18 June 2023]

I watched this with my partner as she's Vegan, for the record I am not.

This film does a shockingly bad job at portraying vegans positively. The main character is so unlikable! She's arrogant, aggressive, confusing, her moral compass is all over the place, and yet we are supposed to root for her to succeed, why?! The films message is confusing too, is this a vegan movie or a coffee movie? Cos it fails to be either or blend the two in any 'interesting' way. At one point the main character drinks a rivals MILK coffee and says it's good forgetting her messages of NO MILK- never brought up. Also, the film seems to make 'fun' of the idea of the coffee competition which sits at the core of this movie, characters will say stuff like 'wow, people are watching now!' and 'you can catch this show in a prison near you!' Like, what?

The editing and use of music is abysmal, the film can't figure out how to end or start scenes, you just get thrown in without warning besides a random shot of a faucet or oat milk being poured, the b roll is E4 tattoo fixers worthy, it's atrocious and they happen soo often that it really drags you out the film. The film can't decide when it what's to slowly explain something to you or bash it over your head, so it kinda does both, the opening 'rant' sequence is a great example of this.

The style of this film is pretty good tho and it's why it's a 4 and not lower, some really well thought out shots and the use of colour and lighting to get ideas and messages across is pretty clever, it's just a shame they also decided to grab ideas from 2008 n blast lens flares every chance they get. And could we please have got a scene without a backing track- omg !!

It's a well shot movie with SOME heart but it's message is obscured by it's own inability to coherently portray a sequence without 9 million cuts or abrupt music changes/stings ruining any flow it may have been gaining. The Vegan stuff is forgettable outside of the odd 'cows are forced to make milk' tired old argument thrown at you over and over. The main character is a pretentious asshat who literally breaks her own lifelong rules multiple times for personal gain.

Tl;dr: if you ain't a vegan and you ain't watching this with someone who is then AVOID at all costs. You will learn absolutely NOTHING about veganism besides the same nonsense you will already likely know, this film brings nothing to the table besides a sour glass of oat milk. 4/10.

We Are Lady Parts (2021– )

Feel good comedy in the vein of Edgar Wright

[8/10 · 16 June 2021]

I'm going to focus this review on fello Muslims who are rating 1 star, the show is not making fun of Islam or is using Muslim culture as some sort spring board to make jokes, as the series goes on the topics get a lot deeper and a lot - A GREAT DEAL - of the issues brought up by most of the '1 star reviewers' here are expanded on appropriately. A lot of the 1 star reviews judged this show based purely on concept alone, brothers I truly believe if you watch this show you will appreciate it, or at least aspects of it. Its a positive depiction of Islam!! It's easily the best most researched show on Islam that is readily available to western audiences right now.

8/10, great writing and comedy, characters are deep n have a lot of story left in them. My only issue would be the speed of which is wrapped up towards the end, and the slight feeling of 'okay then' once it's all over, however the journey that leads you there is highly enjoyable and shouldn't be dismissed.

Also, the depiction of white people in this show is the funniest I've seen in a long time. I am a white guy and I laughed a lot!