Mar. 24, 2010 - Issue #753: Zion I
Film Capsules
Cooking with Stella
The Canadian comedy (more Office-funny than Corner Gas-funny) takes place in the exotic world of New Delhi, India, within the sterilized confines of a government compound. For chef Michael Laffont, acted by Don McKellar, it's the first of several disappointments about moving East from Canada with his diplomat wife, Maya Chopra (Lisa Ray) and baby daughter. It's not just because he has traded his job satisfaction to be a stay-at-home parent and an India that can hardly be called India; when he asks his cooking servant to be his cooking guru, Stella Elizabeth Mathews—a Christian Indian woman played sublimely by Seema Biswas—initially shuts him down. However, after finally breaking the master-servant relationship and proving himself a warm and attentive Canadian (the opposite of his wife), Stella gives him his groove back and teaches him how to master such dishes as curry shrimp. Suddenly, India's not so bad.
But Cooking with Stella isn't just an animated version of Gourmet magazine. Yes, Stella can be a perfectly cheery cook and helper. She also can be biting and brutally honest, but only when she's not being a complete liar. From the detached servant's home, she runs a duty-free black market, collecting a few cases of Big Rock for her dealings with locals every time she makes an order on behalf of her Canadian masters. The script at hand, written by Deepa Mehta and brother Dilip, and directed by Dilip, has real dilemmas and textured dynamics between Stella and her at-home male master, her half-Indian and all-Canadian female master and the new nanny, Tannu (Shriya Saran), who might be the only honourable servant in all of Delhi.
Saran and Biswas are really the stars of the movie, and it shows in the Mehtas' layered writing. Each has their great qualities, their flaws and their stupidities. And outside of the compound, the characters flourish.
So while McKellar gives the movie its subtle comedy and Lisa Ray gives little past her cold delivery (her voice is so pronounced it sounds like voice over), the Canadians are somewhat of a red herring. In the sense that this is a cultural comedy, the Laffont's do their part and have their own slim story. As a moral comedy, Tanny and Stella maintain a tug-of-war that's a delight to watch.
But the movie, pleasurable and playful it is, is also very predictable. It's secrets and twists are concealed terribly. As a dramatist, director Dilip Mehta is too liberal with his visuals, and it leaves a small hole in the enjoyment. Luckily, though, not too many bites are taken out of this otherwise sweet, tender and satisfying meal of a movie..
Cooking with Stella
Directedby Dilip Mehta
Written by Dilip Mehta, Deepa Mehta
Starring Don McKellar, Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray
New comments for this entry have been turned off and any existing ones are hidden. We apologize for any inconvenience.
