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MOVIE REVIEW
Dirty Pretty
Things
(2003)
Starring:
Audrey Tautou,
Chiwetel Ejiofor,
Sergio Lopez
Director:
Stephen Frears
Rating: R
Studio:
Miramax
Release Date: 7.18.03
Review
Posted: 7.22.03
Spoilers:
Minor
By
Sara Michelle Fetters
Frears
at Top of Game with Unsettling "Dirty Pretty Things"
Acclaimed
director Stephen Frears has made a name for himself primarily
with dark and twisted American and British thrillers like “The
Grifters,” “The Hit” and “Dangerous Liaisons.” But his talents
do not end there as Frears’ has also shown a key eye for
observational drama and comedy with sublime films as diverse as
“My Beautiful Laundrette,” “Prick Up Your Ears,” “Sammy and
Rosie Get Laid” “The Snapper” and “High Fidelity.”
But for a
director as assured and confident as this one, Frears has had
more than his share of outright failures. The most notable of
these was the convoluted and misdirected adaptation of the
Jekyll and Hyde myth, “Mary Reilly,” starring a supremely
miscast Julia Roberts, but almost as equally as inept were the
director’s revisionist western “Hi-Lo Country” and the serio-comedy
“Hero” with Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia.
With his new
film, the 2002 Toronto Film Fest favorite “Dirty Pretty Things,”
Frears returns to the realm of the dark and twisted with gutsy
aplomb. But while deeply unsettling and oozing in grit and grime
– I felt like I needed a shower after getting out of the
screening – this film has much in common with many of the
director’s best observational films, focusing on the immigrant
underbelly of working class London most never see.
London Taxi
driver Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an illegal Nigerian immigrant
struggling to make ends meet. Not really one for needing or
wanting sleep, Okwe holds a second job working as the nighttime
front desk receptionist and concierge of seedy downtown hotel.
Also working in the hotel is legal immigrant Senay (Audrey
Tautou). Each morning as she comes in for her shift, she
pretends to drop her keys on the floor for Okwe to pick up,
letting the Nigerian use her flat clandestinely as a place to
rest.
One night,
the local call girl-in-residence Juliette (Sophie Okonedo)
informs Okwe that the room she’s just “tricked” in could use
some cleaning – especially the bathroom. What he finds there is
beyond disturbing, for stuffed in the toilet is a human organ,
freshly cut from a living body. But what can he do? After
informing the hotel manager Juan (Sergi López) – known by his
staff as “Sneaky” – Okwe is politely informed of what the
repercussions to him could be if this matter is reported to the
police. Seeing he’s an illegal immigrant, Sneaky can’t help but
wonder if the police would be truly thankful and understanding
if the Nigerian exile came to them with in this matter.
Making
matters worse, immigration is starting to snoop around the hotel
into Senay’s affairs. As she’s legally immigrating to the
country, she’s not allowed to hold a job for the first six
months of her residence. Soon, she’s forced to leave her cushy
position as a maid at the hotel and work in a sordid sweatshop
having to grant certain favors to the sleazy overweight
proprietor to ensure her position. But when Sneaky comes to her
with a way to escape
London
with a new, legal identity and ten-thousand pounds cash, is this
an offer to good to refuse even with the dangers involved?
Okwe knows
exactly what the dangers are. Unknown to everyone, whilst in
Nigeria he was a renowned doctor and surgeon, and through a
little amateur detective work he’s discovered that Sneaky is
running a covert organ donation program right out of the hotel,
using the local immigrant population and their dreams of a
better tomorrow as his donor pool. What can he do, though? The
police will just ship him back off to Nigeria and certain death,
while Sneaky will just quietly close up shop and move his
operations to a different local. It’s a quandary, but with one
thing for certain – he’s slowly falling in love with Senay –
Okwe will not let his boss cut up the one woman who’s always
been there to help him right from the beginning.
Frears and
first-time screenwriter Steven Knight have crafted an elegantly
grimy thriller that gets under the skin like the sweat from a
hard day of physical labor. Yet, the requirements of the
thriller don’t hold the duo back from putting together a complex
character study of people just below the underbelly of a
capitalistic society. This is a side of
London I’ve hardly ever seen, and Frears has cast it with a keen
eye to nuance and detail using actors from all around the
European globe.
Ejiofor,
particularly, is astonishing in the complex and multi-layered
role of Okwe. A graduated of the esteemed London Academy of
Music and Dramatic Art, the actor has what is essentially his
first leading man role here (he had a small part in Steven
Spielberg’s “Amistad”) and definitely makes the most of it,
imbuing Okwe with a stern and quiet determination that’s
completely compelling. It’s a multifaceted performance of
disquieting depths, and Ejiofor twists the performance into
something almost instinctually primal. What’s most amazing,
though, is how the actor is forced to accomplish all of this
with a subtle nuance, placing all of Okwe conflicting emotions
and instincts just under the surface so as to keep them hidden
from many of the other players.
Both López
and Tautou are also quite strong, even though they have far less
to do or play in Knight’s screenplay. It is nice, however, to
see the wondrously gifted Tautou delve into something much
darker and existential after playing the carefree and colorful
lead character in “Amelie.” With López, he once again nails a
character who just bubbles with danger and menace, hiding his
demonic face behind a cheery façade. But after “Jet Lag” and
“With a Friend Like Harry,” I would just love it if he would
play a romantic lead or comic foil for once, as I can’t help
he’s going to find himself quickly typecast if he keeps turning
up in such indisputably evil characters such as Sneaky is here.
Not
everything about “Dirty Pretty Things” is perfect. There are one
or two plot twists here or there I could have done without, and
the movie does drag making for a very long 107 minutes. Yet,
this is such a fascinating look into a niche subculture and with
performances so rich and compelling that these are just minor
problems. Also, Frears handles the thriller aspects of his tale
so adroitly, slowly and delicately turning the screws that the
final moments come as far more of a surprise than they have any
right to. And while the film’s disquieting subject matter can’t
help but unsettle, the director never takes it so far as to make
the movie unwatchable.
In fact,
there is so much to like about “Dirty Pretty Things” it almost
has to be seen twice. Not since “Fargo” has a character study
masked as a thriller been so compelling, and while it isn’t
quite the classic the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece is, that
doesn’t make the movie any less amazing and one of the best
films to be released this summer.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4
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