The Mistress Of Spices (DVD)

...mistress of spices; she has the ability to understand them and use them to help others and the gift of second sight. She has been sent from India to San Francisco, to cure the spiritual and emotional ills of those around her with her spices. But there are rules she must follow. She can never touch the skin of another person, she can never leave the shop and she must never use the spices for her own purposes. But when a handsome stranger comes off ...
...not be able to bend the rules.

Director Paul Mayeda Berges has made a sweet but rather humdrum addition to the romance genre. It is trying to be a modern romantic fable, but is so packed with sugar that it feels saccharine. There is too great an emphasis on the cod Indian mysticism that underlies the story. So we get women in saris trotting out implausible codes of ethics, fire-walking and people literally talking to spices in a clumsy ... more

Tilo is a mistress of spices; she has the ability to understand them and use them to help others and the gift of second sight. She has been sent from India to San Francisco, to cure the spiritual and emotional ills of those around her with her spices. But there are rules she must follow. She can never touch the skin of another person, she can never leave the shop and she must never use the spices for her own purposes. But when a handsome stranger comes off his motorbike outside the store, Tilo begins to wonder if she might not be able to bend the rules.

Director Paul Mayeda Berges has made a sweet but rather humdrum addition to the romance genre. It is trying to be a modern romantic fable, but is so packed with sugar that it feels saccharine. There is too great an emphasis on the cod Indian mysticism that underlies the story. So we get women in saris trotting out implausible codes of ethics, fire-walking and people literally talking to spices in a clumsy attempt at magical realism. There's even a ghostly visitation from Tilo's mentor that feels too Yoda for its own good. I can accept that every spice has a purpose and that could imprint on it the vestiges of a personality. Thanks to Berges' almost fetishistic cinematography of them, you can virtually smell the pungent aroma. But when Tilo acts as though they are actually talking to her, it's a little hard to swallow; especially when every glimpse of the warning red chillies is accompanied by a loud musical spike that makes them sound eeevil. It's a shame this is Berges' first film as a director because he won't get much work off the back of it.

In order for a romance to work cinematically, everything should be handled with the lightest touch. But thanks to the director's ham-fisted approach, it's a jam roly-poly of a film rather than a gossamer-light confection. The earnest way he treats the material is his undoing. Instead of being poignant, Tilo's visions are melodramatic. The clumsy voice-over that reveals her thoughts is so serious that it soon becomes laughable. Every line is delivered as if the fate of the world hangs in the balance; sucking the fun from what should be pure entertainment. The budgetary constraints of the movie also damage it. The visual effects don't hold up to scrutiny - a couple of fire-walking scenes look very ropey. Shooting all the interiors in the Isle of Man may also have been a bad idea. Many of the British actors playing Americans can't sustain a believable accent. Much of the money seems to have gone on the score that smothers the majority of the scenes. The result is a deeply unsatisfying whole that lacks charm and outstays its' welcome despite being only a shade over ninety minutes.

The screenplay, co-written by the director and "Bend It Like Beckham" director Gurinder Chadha uses a simple fable format, which is muddled in the execution. The love against the odds storyline is overpowered by the manifold subplots involving Tilo's myriad customers. Everyone that walks through the door seems to have a traumatic past or present. I understand the film is trying to deal with issues of love versus duty and the battle between tradition and modernity. But we don't need to see everyone's back-story in so much detail; just a few brief flashes would be enough. Though it must be said the only characters whose stories are investigated in depth are those of Indian origin. Sadly most of these conform to the stereotypes of North Asians abroad, making them feel more Bollywood than Hollywood. They don't ever feel real because they aren't fleshed out.

The dialogue is pretty naff throughout. The majority of it jars because it doesn't feel truthful or realistic. Do we really need so many references to various spices to remind us the leading lady is a mistress thereof? Or so many obvious diagnoses of people's emotional problems? It gets tediously repetitive. The reductive philosophy of the film is pushing things a bit far. Its suggestion that a few sprigs of this or that can cure all the world's ills removes all responsibility from the characters and makes them little more than puppets.

Aishwarya Rai has often been voted one of the most beautiful women in the world and it's not difficult to see why. She is at her best when required to do nothing but stand looking exquisite. So the role of Tilo could have been written for her, as most of her dialogue is delivered in voice-over. That's not to say she can't act, it's just that she isn't called upon to do so. Unfortunately though, the part is pure fluff, with Tilo standing as a cipher for duty and goodness.

Dylan McDermott was clearly told that the role of Doug required someone very manly. To fit this ideal, he has grown copious amounts of facial hair. He's the sort of actor that has spent much of his career passing unnoticed and that's because he is desperately average. He fulfils the role of romantic lead okay. He hits his marks and says his lines with some indication of feeling, but is hampered by a total lack of chemistry with his female co-star. He only comes to life when his scenes have some emotional depth and he can get his teeth into them.

British actor Nitin Chandra Ganatra brings some much needed warmth to the movie as taxi driver Haroun. He manages sweet without being sickly and despite the way his character is written, largely manages to avoid the head-bobbing Indian stereotype.

The score by Craig Pruess is too big for the film. It smothers most of the movie, again over-emphasising the Indian mysticism with its' incessant sitar, ethereal Hindi vocals and pipes. The problem is that the music doesn't always relate to the subject matter of the scene or it tries to influence it. I sometimes feels confused, throwing in random thriller squeals here and R 'n' B rhythms and vocal touches there. The magical aspect of the film is represented by predictable chimes, while the romance is hammered home with schmaltzy guitar and gamelan. The problem is that the percussion is too pervasive and the whole kit and caboodle too loud.

"The Mistress of Spices" is the sort of sugary romance that requires the watcher to take it with a very large pinch of salt (if you'll pardon the pun). The story and execution are far too fanciful to have any emotional resonance. The romance is hampered by lack of chemistry between the leads and all the characters feel like ciphers for issues like racial intolerance. If only the same loving care could have been lavished on the writing, as on the lush cinematography of the spices; then perhaps the film wouldn't feel so flavourless.
 

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