The Mistress of Spices

In India, Tilo (Aishwarya Rai) has the ability of foreseeing the future. When their parents are killed by bandits, she is kidnapped but escapes and is raised by the First Mother (Zohra Segal) in a sort of traditional cult of spices. She becomes the Mistress of Spices and is sent to the Spice Bazaar in San Francisco, with the mission of following three basic rules: help her clients to accomplish their desires with the spices, but never hers; never leave the store; and never be touched in the skin. When she meets the handsome American architect Doug (Dylan McDermott), she feels a great attraction and desire for him, breaking the first rule and being punished by the spices.

"The Mistress of Spices" is a predictable but pleasant film that uses the idea of movies like "Chocolate", "Woman on Top", "Como Agua Para Chocolate" blending romance with food or spice or chocolate or cookies. Therefore, the flawed story has no originality and is quite boring and messy in many moments. However, the cinematography is wonderful, with magnificent colors highlighted on DVD. Further, the gorgeous Miss World 1994 and Queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai makes this little film worth with her beauty and participating in most of the scenes. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Sabor da Magia" ("The Flavor of Magic")

Tilo survived rebels in India and the orphan is raised in the ways of the spices. She grows up to operate a spice shop in San Francisco. In order to maintain her spice powers, she cannot leave the shop. She administers to her clients' various ills. One day, Doug (Dylan McDermott) walks in leaving her powers in chaos.

This is a movie of magical surrealism. It does not have any magic visually. The story has surrealism but it's not presented that well. For it to have magic, it needs to do a lot more with its exotic locations from India to San Francisco. This looks like it's filmed mostly in some random backlots. Even being stuck inside the shop, there is lack of magic with the spice world. Aishwarya Rai is really beautiful but her glowing blue eyes are not enough to inject real charisma into the role. She and McDermott struggle to be more than simply ships passing in the night. He seems especially lost in this. The other stories do need more help to develop. Almost every character feels underdeveloped and that's a problem. The premise of magical spice prescriptions could be interesting but it's not done well here.

I had almost decided not to watch this movie, what with all the people word-bashing its senselessness. But go I did... fortunately.

Yes, it's not great cinema... of great courage, making you cry... making you angry. But it is good cinema... and a faithful representation of the book. The book is a fairy-tale, simple to the core, and so is the movie.

And who says Aish cannot act? Just look at the finer nuances of her eyes and eyebrows when she is required to emote, and you will realize that this girl knows what it takes to enact a character which has already been "written about" in a book. Yes, she underplays the role... but that is what her character is, right? A woman who is poised, but sometimes the deepest feelings find their vent. I am surely impressed by Aish's restrained expression of feelings... and people who mistake this for an incapacity to act, God give them the subtleties of discernment.

Go watch this movie... not to come out exhilarated or flustered... but to enjoy a good fairy tale, for that's what it is.

THE MISTRESS OF SPICES has some of the most beautiful use of color and texture in the form a magical Spice Bazaar that has graced a DVD. It also has as its protagonist the very beautiful Aishwarya Rai and the love interest of the always-reliable Dylan McDermott. The story was created and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges (with help from Gurinder Chada) who has given us such fine films as "Paris, je t'aime', 'Bride & Prejudice' and 'Bend It Like Beckham'. So the question arises as to why this film just doesn't quite make it: the reason may be the tough marriage of fantasy with reality, assigning more importance to dialog between the Mistress and the spices than to the development of storyline.

Tilo (the ravishingly beautiful Aishwarya Rai) was taken in as a child by a spiritually inclined First Mother (Zohra Sehgal) who trains young girls the mysteries of spices - their magic, their meaning and their rigid life style imposed on the developing Mistresses. Those who gain the secrets of the spices are sent into the world, warned never to use the magic for them selves, never to touch human skin, and never to leave the shops where their spices are shared to help mankind. Tilo moves to the Bay Area and does good deeds for her customers until she meets Doug (Dylan McDermott) who needs her care after a motorcycle accident. They touch, their eyes speak of mutual desire and Tilo is thrown into conflict of being a mistress of spices or of having a love life. How situations and destiny work through the story is the meager line of the tale, the majority of the script is Tilo communicating with her spices!

The cast contains some fine character actors such as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Caroline Chikezie, Anupam Kher, and of course Zohra Sehgal. And there is enough statement about immigrant status in America to keep the story topical. THE MISTRESS OF SPICES entertains and that is a pleasure. Just don't expect a film on the level of director Paul Mayeda Berges' other works. Grady Harp

In spite of a very heavy schedule I took time off to watch this because I was curious to see how a film would handle the fantastical elements of the book.

I am sorry to say this so baldly: the film borders on the absurd in some parts and proved to be a damp squib in others despite the (ridiculous)numerous shots of bright red hot chilli peppers in almost every frame.

There was absolutely no chemistry between the two main characters,bunches of hot chilli peppers notwithstanding. I have no doubt Aishwarya has thousands of loyal fans who would defend her "acting talent" but again I failed to see any evidence of it in this movie.

That the director is a novice, a wanna be, and could do with some training is a given. He simply did not know how to handle material so rich in possibilities. He lost every opportunity in the book to make the characters come alive. Even worse, he fails to lift the movie from being a mere depiction of absurd hocus pocus to one where magical elements would seem almost natural even in the humdrum life of a Western city.

In the end, I felt impelled to laugh every time I saw Aish go up to the window to gaze out wordlessly with a bunch of red peppers hanging behind her.

Perhaps the director believed he could ride on the bandwagon of success that all Indian things seem to have currently but he seems to have miscalculated his own ability to interpret a story such as this even with wife Gurinder standing by his side.