The Lunchbox.
Amid the gorgeously observed swirl of modern Mumbai, this film slows down to focus on two seemingly unremarkable people, and demonstrates that the most tremendous changes in life often start with small ones. At midday, one of the city's 5,000 dabbawallas (lunchbox couriers) delivers a box to the wrong address. The housewife who made the lunch (Nimrat Kaur) is lonely, as is the office worker who receives it (the great Irrfan Khan, from In Treatment and Life of Pi). They start exchanging simple notes, and soon this tiny crack in their routines opens up new worlds for both. If there's a face that can hold audiences more rapt than Khan's while simply reading or thinking, I haven't seen it.
At VIFF: Oct. 6, 6:15 pm, Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts; Oct. 8, 4:30 pm, Rio
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Johanna Schneller