Dough (2015)

An old Jewish baker struggles to keep his business afloat until his young Muslim apprentice drops cannabis in the dough and sends sales sky high.

Director:

John Goldschmidt

Writers:

Jonathan Benson, Jez Freedman

Stars:

Jonathan Pryce, Jerome Holder, Phil Davis

8 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jonathan Pryce	...	Nat Dayan
Jerome Holder	...	Ayyash Habimana
Phil Davis	...	Sam Cotton (as Philip Davis)
Ian Hart	...	Victor Gerrard
Pauline Collins	...	Joanna Silverman
Andrew Ellis	...	Lucas
Malachi Kirby	...	Shaun
Natasha Gordon	...	Safa Habimana
Melanie Freeman	...	Olivia Dayan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joel Beckett	...	PC O'Neill
Daniel Ben Zenou	...	Rabbi
Matt Beveridge	...	Stoner
Ben Bishop	...	PC Marsh
Paul Blackwell	...	Car driver
Alexander Bracq	...	Car Driver

Storyline

Safa Habimana, a Muslim immigrant in Britain who struggles to make ends meet, hopes that she and her troubled teenage son, Ayyash, will reunite with her husband one day. However, with lots of time on his hands, Ayyash will soon find the police on his doorstep--and as a result--his desperate mother will need to take some drastic measures. So, without delay, Safa sets up an appointment with Nat, her Jewish boss and the neighbourhood's baker, to beg him to take her son as an apprentice. Of course, new beginnings are usually hard at first; but, little by little, as Nat's business starts to flourish thanks to a revolutionary recipe, a strong bond will develop between them. But, do they know that problems are just around the corner?

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Plot Keywords:

prayers | mother son relationship | father son relationship | hash brownies | hasidic jew | 

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Taglines:

Everyone wants a taste of the high life!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dough's tagline "You don't have to be baked to make some Dough" (and poster layout) is a parody of Levy Rye's "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's real Jewish Rye" campaign from the '60s.

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Goofs

When Nat and Ayyash go to switch out the pot-laced goods Cotton bought, they accidentally knock the old and new muffins together and don't know which are the new ones they ought to leave. Yet they don't really need to switch them out--they can simply steal them, and deprive Cotton of goods to test for pot. Of course, having the goods come back clean helps them more, but it's not worth the risk.

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Quotes

Joanna: Race and religion are irrelevant. If you're a dickhead, then you're a dickhead.

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Connections

Features Singin' in the Rain (1952)

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Soundtracks

Like the Dancefloor
Performed by Natalie Storm
Courtesy of Rinse Records and Fool's Gold Records
Words and Music by A-Trak, Natalie Cole and Benjamin Pettit
Published by Kobalt Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing

User Reviews

Stick with this one...

"Dough" is a film brand new to DVD and is available from Netflix...and I strongly recommend you give it a try. This is because this British movie is very fresh and original...and is far better than I'd expected given what I knew about the plot. Just be forewarned...you might not like the characters initially...stick with it, you won't be sorry!

When the film begins, young Ayyash (Jerome Holder) is an unemployed African man living in London. His plan to get himself and his mother out of poverty is to sell drugs for a particularly nasty thug. However, his mother is looking out for him and when her employer, Nat (Jonathan Pryce), is in need of an apprentice in his bakery, she introduces Ayyash to him. As for Ayyash, he only agrees to do the job as a cover...he assumes most of his money will come about by selling drugs.

As for Ayyash and Nat, they have no reason to get along of like each other. After all, Nat is an old Orthodox Jew and Ayyash is a young black Muslim--not exactly natural friends. However, and this is what I loved about the film, over time the odd pair began to grow on each other and actually care about each other. Yet, at the same time, it didn't come off as clichéd or ridiculous.

One day, Ayyash is making bread and some of his marijuana falls into the batch. He tells no one but the bread turns out to be a hit...and Ayyash decides to use more pot in his baking because he wants to help out Nat because his business is failing. Soon, they have more customers than they could have dreamed of and Nat doesn't suspect why this is the case. As for what happens next, you'll just have to watch the film for yourself.

This film easily could have been a goofy comedy but instead shied away from overt comedy. Instead, the filmmakers wisely chose to make the story much more character-driven instead of going for the cheap laughs. As a result, you really grow to like the characters and their interaction is at times quite sweet. Both actors did a great job with the material and the film is one that only gets better as the movie progresses. Well worth seeing and a very nice picture that took me by surprise.

Details

Official Sites:

Viva Films [United Kingdom]

Country:

UK Hungary

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 April 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

La mejor receta

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$50,871, 14 February 2016

Gross USA:

$1,148,304

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,647,429

Company Credits

Production Co:

Docler Entertainment, Wolf & The Gang, Docler DProd

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color (ACES)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1