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Dough – is dough as in bread, not money, although you have to spend money to buy bread, and that’s also a problem for Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce), an orthodox jew who runs a failing bakery, with the lease owned by Pauline Collins‘ late husband. Since she’s now sold her stake on to businessman Phil Davis, will the moneygrabber carry it on? Seems unlikely.
Throw in Ian Hart as a skinhead drug dealer, and what carries this off nicely is some great, established talent, including the cream of the British crop over the years, plus newcomer Jerome Holder as young Muslim lad, Ayyash, with he and his mum being asylum seekers, and living in a run-down flat in much need of repair.
With Ayyash being a Muslim, and Nat being Jewish, there’s a racial divide which is thrown into the mix, briefly, but what Dough does have is a great number of lines of dry comedy, such as when he applies to work there:
- Nat (to Ayyash’s mum): “Has he got any baking experience?”
Ayyash: “I made toast, this morning.”
Due to the lack of sales of late, Nat’s pleased when they perk up following the new arrival, not realising Ayyash has been lining them with ‘extra special poppy seeds’, aka marajuana.
After a while, the comedy gives way to the drama, and then moves into farce, but with a good cast, it’s an entertaining 90+ minutes, particularly with Phil Davis snarling away as the nasty new landlord.
Dough is released in UK cinemas on Friday, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. Click on the poster for the full-size version.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Studio: Vertigo Films
Year: 2017
Format: 2.35:1 (Arri Alexa)
Released: June 2nd 2017
Rating: 7/10
Director: John Goldschmidt
Producers: Wolfgang Esenwein, György Gattyán, John Goldschmidt and András Somkuti
Screenplay: Jonathan Benson
Music: Lorne Balfe
Cast:
Nat Dayan: Jonathan Pryce
Ayyash Habimana: Jerome Holder
Sam Cotton: Phil Davis
Victor Gerrard: Ian Hart
Joanna Silverman: Pauline Collins
Lucas: Andrew Ellis
Shaun: Malachi Kirby
Safa Habimana: Natasha Gordon
Olivia Dayan: Melanie Freeman
PC O’Neill: Joel Beckett
PC Marsh: Ben Bishop
Rabbi: Daniel Ben Zenou
Stoner: Matt Beveridge
Car drivers: Paul Blackwell, Alexander Bracq
Stephen Dayan: Daniel Caltagirone
Saul Goodwyn: Andy de la Tour
Security guard #1: Matt Devere
Danny: Dominic Garfield
Goth Teenager: Lili Gattyán
Customer at bakery: Nigel Genis
Paramedic: Garry Marriott
Congregant: Jon Rumney
Police Constable: Glen Stanway
Rodney: John Voce
Ballroom Dancer: Tina Simmons
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.