More interesting for what it tries to achieve than for what it accomplishes, “Import Export” is claimed to be the first movie made by and about the large Pakistani community in Oslo. That aside, this predictable pic leaves a lot to be desired. Direction is clumsy, acting mostly wooden and jokes are often telegraphed so far in advance that when they finally arrive, they’re not funny any longer. Export options appear nil.
Jan (Bjornar Teigen), a Norwegian, falls in love with beautiful Pakistani girl Jasmin (Iram Haq). They want to marry but realize Jasmin’s father, Allahditta (Talat Hussain), won’t like the news, as Jasmin is promised to a cousin who’s due to arrive from home. To circumvent this, Jan gets a job at Allahditta’s grocery store, and the two men slowly become friends. Jan also gets himself circumsized and claims that, from now on, he’s also a Muslim. Only thesp to escape with any dignity is Hussain, a respected actor in Pakistan who brings some stature to the pic. Cross-cultural theme has been handled much better in other recent Scandi movies, such as Reza Bagher’s “Wings of Glass” and Josef Fares’ “Jalla! Jalla!.”
