OUTSOURCED

Sweet, ironic and unassumingly worldly-wise, this indie comedy of cultural difference takes place in a Mumbai call centre where a young Seattle executive (Josh Hamilton) coaches his Indian staff in selling kitschy Americana, manufactured in China, to patriotic customers in Kalamazoo. John Jeffcoat’s light directorial touch gels nicely with the lively wit of the script and the comic élan of the largely Indian cast. The lovely Ayesha Dharker lights up the screen as a challenging trainee, and the chaos of Mumbai is rendered equally seductive in the glowing cinematography.

“An exceptionally likable film... Jeffcoat’s depiction of the call-center world is funny, fascinating and almost anthropological; he never preaches at you on the morality, or lack thereof, of this distinct late-capitalist phenomenon... I guess Outsourced is simply too bright and pleasant to become a huge hit, but it’s a confident little genre film with near-classic charm.” — Andrew O’Hehir, salon.com