Viewers familiar with lesbian films will be able to call the ending (and all major points of conflict) long before the credits roll. The New York Times called the film "another weightless confection from the writer and director Shamim Sarif." Īutostraddle said that it "stands out for its cultural specificity, truly stunning leads, and endless charm." ĪfterEllen's review notes, "While the film has a lot going for it, the script is surprisingly paint-by-the-numbers. Ishwar Maharaj as Sami - Kareem's younger brother.Sam Vincenti as Kareem - Lamia's husband.Rez Kempton as Ali - Tala's best friend, Leyla's boyfriend.Kimberly Jaraj as Zina - Tala's younger sister.Anya Lahiri as Lamia - Tala's middle sister.Amber Rose Revah as Yasmin - Leyla's sister.Siddiqua Akhtar as Maya - Leyla's mother.Ernest Ignatius as Sam - Leyla's father.Antonia Frering as Reema - Tala's mother.When Ali and Leyla's feisty sister, Yasmin, help try to get Tala and Leyla together again, Tala finds that her own preconceptions of what love can be is the final hurdle she must jump to win Leyla back. Back in London, Leyla is heartbroken but learns to break free of her own self-doubt and her mother's expectations, ditching Ali and being honest with her parents about her sexuality. However, Tala's own sense of duty and cultural restraint cause her to pull away from Leyla and fly back to Jordan where the preparations for an ostentatious wedding are well under way.Īs family members descend and the wedding day approaches, the pressure mounts until Tala finally cracks and extricates herself. After a weekend getaway into the countryside, Tala and Leyla sleep together and the two women begin to fall in love. And Tala's forthright challenges to Leyla's beliefs begins a journey of self-awareness for Leyla. Tala sees something unique in the artless, clumsy, sensitive Leyla who secretly works to become a writer. But back at work in London, Tala encounters Leyla, a young British Indian Muslim woman who is dating Tala's best friend Ali. In the upper echelons of traditional Middle Eastern society, wealthy Christian Palestinians Reema and Omar prepare for the marriage of their visiting daughter Tala to Hani in Jordan. The lead actresses, Ray and Sheth, also starred in Sarif's 2007 lesbian-themed historical drama film The World Unseen. It was released in different regions between 20. I Can't Think Straight was produced by Enlightenment Productions and distributed in the United States by Regent Releasing and Here! Films. The film stars Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth. Based on Sarif's 2008 novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian descent, Tala, who is preparing for an elaborate wedding when a turn of events causes her to have an affair, and subsequently fall in love, with another woman, Leyla, a British Indian. But "I Can't Think Straight," while a comedy, is frank about cultural tensions among Palestinians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, and the intolerance of homosexuality in both Jordanian and Indian cultures (the women in love come from immigrant families).I Can't Think Straight is a 2008 British romantic drama film directed by Shamim Sarif. The dramatic "World Unseen" depicts, as expected, a repressive situation in 1950s South Africa. Interestingly, it might be the romantic comedy that turns out to be the most controversial. Suddenly, Enlightenment Productions, the distributor, had two films for practically the price of one. At about the time that project was finished, Sarif regained the legal rights to her first film. While all that was playing out, Sarif was able to put together financing for an adaptation of her first novel, "The World Unseen" ("I Can't Think Straight" was her third novel), and she again went with Ray and Sheth. Most of the films I'm in (such as Deepa Mehta's "Water") are gloomy, so it was kind of fun to take on a light set." "Yeah, but it was a pretty fun set," Ray said by telephone. However, the production couldn't cover all of its expenses, and Sarif and her producer had to go to court to get the negative back into their control. Turns out that "I Can't Think Straight," about a woman from a Jordanian family and one from an Indian family fall who in love, was made first and was Sarif's directorial debut. The aspect of collaboration appealed to me, using the amazing resources of people that are experts in their field, like production design, actors, etc." "Maybe it's the schizophrenic in me," laughs Sarif on the phone from London, speaking not only of her two films but also of her leap from novelist to filmmaker. It's not often one can see how the same director approaches two different subject matters - a present-day comedy and a period drama - in so short a time. Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth star in both films, which are directed by the same woman, Shamim Sarif, who adapted her own novels.
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