THE LUNCHBOX

Foodie movies are nothing new. Some of the most admired art-house films of the last forty years or so have food at their centre both in a literal sense and as a metaphor but few, if any, are as mouth-wateringly tasteful as Ritesh Batra's "The Lunchbox", a gorgeous romantic comedy-drama that will have you salivating from its opening moments. This one hails from India, a country not only famous for its cuisine but for its cinema which is now finally getting the recognition it deserves here in the West.

A love story but not in the usual sense, (it reminded me a little of Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation"), it's about the relationship, (platonic, unconsummated), that develops between a lonely middle-aged man on the cusp of retirement, (a superb performance from the late Irrfan Khan), and a younger, unhappily married woman, (beautifully played by Nimrat Kaur), when, by accident, a lunchbox is delivered to the wrong address. (Props like this are often at the centre of romantic misunderstandings). This couple never meet but correspond with each other on a daily basis and, in their own way, fall in love.

The humour is gentle, the drama is virtually imperceptible; this is a film that could easily have come from Ozu or De Sica. It's a satire that not only uses food as a metaphor for feelings, romantic or otherwise, but also pokes gentle fun at India's pen-pushing office environment, (and there's a totally terrific scene-stealing performance from Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Khan's potential replacement), and even manages to get a dig in at the country's over-crowded railway system. I loved every frame of this movie which is about as perfect as motion-pictures can get.