If you know the difference between Literature and The Classics you will appreciate that this film is a loose retelling of Homer's Odyssey. But if, like me, you think that Literature is books, The Classics is anything in black and white, The Odyssey is that space movie with apes and the 'da-da-da((mdash))((mdash))DA-DA' music, and Homer is a yellow-headed guy who loves donuts, you can still enjoy this movie.

Everett Ulysses McGill (Clooney), a smooth-talking gent with an immaculate coiffure, escapes from a chain gang, still chained to dim-witted Pete (Turturro) and even dimmer-witted Delmar (Nelson). Together they journey across the 1930's Mississippi countryside to retrieve McGill's buried treasure. This is really is a likeable and enjoyable film. It looks great, with good music that isn't too hokey, and excellent, slightly surreal comic performances from the cast, which include many Coen regulars. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? is a pretty darn good film. And if I ever read The Odyssey, I might even understand it.

The trailer for this film made it out to be a raunchy comedy, complete with animal sex jokes and urinal humour. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the movie is way more than that. East is East is set in 1970s Telford, where the first generation of Anglo-Pakistanis are dealing with the tension between the culture of their people and the one of the country they were born in. The story focuses on George Khan, a twice-married Pakistani man who is desperately trying to find wives for his older sons. Meanwhile, his sons have other ideas...

George Khan, who also wrote the stage play of the same name, based a large part of it on his own experiences. It delves into areas such as family loyalty and honour with skill and depth, and brings out subtle shadings that keep it from merely stooping to play on the lowest common denominator of comedy. The final scenes are quite moving as everyone reacts to how the order of things has been challenged so fundamentally. This points to the fact that both Pakistani and English culture's are quite stable and slow to change, revealing similarities which lie beneath the apparent differences of culture.