This screening is sold out. We will start an in-person waitlist one hour before the screening in case we are able to release last-minute tickets.
Young Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury practically burn a hole in the screen in this tale of cross-cultural romance, as the vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South are blended and simmered into a rich and fragrant fusion feast in Mira Nair’s luminous look at the complexities of love.
Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina (Choudhury) finds herself helping to run a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. It’s there that a passionate romance with the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius (Washington) challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region’s Indian and African American communities. Tackling thorny issues of racism, colorism, culture clash, and displacement with big-hearted humor and keen insight, Nair serves up a sweet and radical celebration of love’s power to break down the barriers between us.
In what will be a surprise to absolutely no one, young Denzel has smoldering charisma to spare—he’s fresh off his first Oscar for Glory and clearly in ascendance as a major star—and Choudhury is right there with him. The blistering chemistry between the two makes this one of the sexier arthouse movies of the ’90s.