Ashish (Saamer Usmani) is a second generation Indo-Canadian man having lunch with his boys when they get a crasher. That crasher is his recently estranged father Vijay (Bernard White), who tells him that he has early Parkinson’s disease. It’s news that his mother Nisha (Pamela Sinha) already knows about, handling it while trying to live life normally.
Ashish, a writer, is going through the kind of family drama that he’s uncomfortable revealing with his new girlfriend. That girlfriend is Claire (Amy Forsyth), a geographer slumming it a as barista, is, for the most part, open to him. A lot divides these two lovebirds, including, importantly, her free spirited nature clashing with his need for security.
Security is a big theme for a film that uses Shook as a title it follows the title’s spirit. In this film, older immigrants do things like consume marijuana and have second marriages after their first ones fail. Director Amar Wala switches from documentary to fiction with his co-screenwriter Adnan Khan, giving viewers nuance. They’re sympathetic towards Ashish, or Ash, and that’s still apparent even as they expose his arguable hypocrisies.
As I wrote above already, Ash is dating a white woman but he reacts negatively when Nisha dates a white man. Vijay and his other son Hari (Sharjil Rasool) don’t bring up this exact criticism but they point out things that he needs to see. A visually straightforward love letter to Toronto, the film teaches us many things like loving our parents more.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/7/2024
- Directed by: Amar Wala
- Starring: Amy Forsyth, Bernard White, Pamela Sinha, Saamer Usmani
- Written by: Adnan Khan, Amar Wala
- Studio: Film Forge Productions, Scarborough Films
