Leslie Udwin Movies

The dysfunctional and multi-cultural Khan family returns to the screen in this follow-up to the 1998 hit comedy East Is East. It's 1976 in Salford, England, and life, as always, is chaotic in the home of traditionally minded Pakistani immigrant George (Om Puri) and his working-class British wife Ella (Linda Bassett). Their 15-year-old son Sajid (Aqib Khan) is a target for racist bullies at school and has been picked up for shoplifting, so George decides to take him to Pakistan to learn something of his heritage. Sajid, however, isn't at all interested in getting a crash course in Pakistani culture, and the visit to George's family is made uncomfortable by the presence of his first wife (Ila Arun), whom he hasn't seen in thirty years. Sajid feels like an outcast in Pakistan, but bonds with his big brother Maneer (Emil Marwa), who had been sent there a year earlier and his trying to balance his desire to find a wife with his obsession with Greek singer Nana Mouskouri. Just when Sajid's cultural confusion seemingly couldn't get worse, Ella and her best friend Annie (Leslee Nicol) arrive for an unexpected visit, prompted by George helping himself to their joint bank account. Directed by Andy De Emmony, West Is West received its North American premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An adaptation of the 1999 Danish film Den Eneste Ene and set in modern day Newcastle, England, this easygoing urban comedy concerns a recently widowed father attempting to start anew following the death of his spouse. Though he had been having doubts about their relationship and in particular the prospect of adopting six-year-old African orphan Mgala (Angel Thomas), kitchen fitter Neil (Richard Roxburgh) agreed to the adoption shortly before the death of his wife Sharon (Kerry Rolfe). Despite his single parent status, Neil commences to join mate Stan (Michael Hodgson) in boozing it up at the local pub. Gradually growing closer to new client Stevie (Justine Waddell) despite her failing relationship with footballer lout Sonny (Jonathan Cake), the two embark on a tentative relationship driven by their mutual dissatisfaction with their current circumstances. When Stevie discovers that she is pregnant and that Sonny has been seeing other women behind her back, she and Neil find that love has a way of creeping up on you when you least expect it. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Mike Beckham draws on the facts in the case of two 1974 bomb attacks in Birmingham that left twenty-one dead, and six innocent men wrongly convicted. When terrorists bomb two Birmingham pubs, the authorities race to catch the culprits responsible for killing twenty-one unsuspecting civilians. But were the men christened the "Birmingham Six" really the ones responsible for this horrific mass slaughter? In this film, Beckham follows the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA agents were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi