East is East - Michael Massey, April 2004

• East is East is a good choice for a study of 1990s British Cinema because it contains a variety of themes, images and generic features which link it to the history of film and popular culture in this country over the last forty-odd years.
• In common with many films of this period, East Is East borrows heavily from a variety of genres, as suggested here. Such ‘genre-bending’ has become a common feature of contemporary filmmaking, and lends weight to the more complex definitions of the term ‘genre’. We no longer witness simple categorisations of film ‘types’. Instead audience expectations and pleasures depend much more on surprising juxtapositions and conflations of generic characteristics. For example, we are not altogether sure whether we are watching a domestic comedy or a domestic tragedy.
• There are no easy answers in this film; no happy endings and no glib solutions.
• a significant feature of every character’s life seems to be pretence
• East Is East is arranged chronologically, it seems to concentrate more on episodic glimpses of the Khan’s family life rather than following a distinct linear storyline.
• Great care has been taken to create a very accurate ‘period feel’ for the film - create a sense of deprivation and making-do.
• we are forced to confront not just the very human contradictions within the Khans and their neighbours, but more importantly the very human contradictions within ourselves.