Kris Rampersad Cold-blooded collateralNothing unusual means everything usual.That's a line from a long-time short story, "The Night Watchman's Occurrence Book" by VS Naipaul which the scriptwriter of The Mystic Masseur – the movie – has not yet .... the cineplex is now showing The Mystic Masseur, which is promotionally pitched as "a time and a place for magic and miracles."The movie, like the novel, is set in Trinidad. Need I say more on how misleading then that promotional line is?Nothing in the book, nor even the Caryl Phillips-scripted Merchant Ivory production remotely shows more....

peytonwestlake Don't believe the comments, this film is a pleasant surprise, not pretentious artistic butler garbage. The film depicts a young Indian teacher in Trinidad in the 1940s, an aspiring intellectual in a rural, isolated village. The acting in this movie is its strongest point, the dynamic between the title character and the villagers, including his wife and father-in-law are cute, homey, and very refreshing, a merriness not seen in many mainstream films in the last 10 years. Om Puri, as the protagonist's father-in-law is truly hilarious in his portrayal of a bumpkin fascinated with the ways of the educated. Aside from the abrupt ending this flick is a real charming piece of film candy. The photography in the lush, rainy, green of Trinidad is also notable.

Cipher-J The look and feel of this film is of a "real" story, based at least somewhat on facts, although it seems rather too preposterous to be real. We are presented with a semi-literate, backwater Hindu cracker, in love with "books" the way people of limited literacy tend to be, desiring nothing so much as to write some himself, but with barely enough talent to produce more than grandiose pamphlets. Similarly, with no actual training or experience to draw from, he imagines himself to be a gifted masseur. Evidently in the more rustic districts of Trinidad, where superstitions run high, people were greatly impressed by such pretensions, and he does rather well for himself. Soon he is holding "court" on his potato patch, with lines of rural boobs waiting their turn to be blessed or have their marital quarrels adjudicated. The film has a Hindu flavor of the American Evangelical movement of the 1920s, somewhat squalid and shabby intellectually. It is presented in retrospect form the point of view of a young fellow who experienced a "spiritual healing" from the pundit in his childhood. The lettered rube is therefore treated with the greatest respect, as though nearly a Gandhi or Nehru! It is exceedingly well done technically and artistically, if only the story was less peculiar and doltish.

thegreifs after making a special effort to get to see this movie..i was so disappointed..attracted by merchant,naipul, and trinadad..what a letdown..slow,dull, with a story that went nowhere..it definitely a film to miss