Customer Reviews

Dirty Pretty Things

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It isn't often that you see a well-crafted thriller with something on its mind, but "Dirty Pretty Things" is one of those films. It tells the story of Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Nigerian living in London illegally. He works two jobs: one as a taxi driver and the other inside a second-rate hotel. This doesn't give him much time to do anything, but work. When it is time to rest, he has an unusual living arrangement with Senay (Audrey Tautou), a Turkish immigrant that also works at the hotel. They share the same flat, but never occupy it at the same time.

One night, while Okwe is working at the hotel, he is asked to check on a room and discovers a human heart. When he tells his boss Sneaky Juan (Sergi López), he's told to keep quiet or he'll risk deportation. This causes Okwe to have a moral dilemma, which drives this fascinating story of the underside of London live.

Without revealing too much of the plot, "Dirty Pretty Things" keeps raising the stakes and makes you really care about the plight of the main characters.

Fans of the international hit "Amélie," might be a bit surprised by Ms. Tautou's performance as Senay. Some might find her work shocking, but it clearly indicates that Tautou is an actor unafraid of taking risks. She and Mr. Ejiofor are a pleasure to watch on screen together.

Okwe is reminiscent of some of Sidney Poitier's early films. He's sensitive, noble and has strong moral convictions. That's something you don't see much in film today. Ejiofor's performance is all the more remarkable given the world in which his character lives in. Okwe is surrounded by morally bankrupt people that will do anything to become British citizens. He stands tall in the face of many temptations.

While a fascinating and provocative film, "Dirty Pretty Things" may not be for everybody. However, if you're looking for an intelligent story with complex characters and don't mind venturing into a seedy world, this film is for you.

They're in the shadows, the people that no one sees. "Dirty Pretty Things" can be classified as many things -- horror, drama, thriller, social commentary or some combination of the above -- but in the end it is merely a wonderfully gritty, realistic film that will leave you thinking.

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Nigerian immigrant in London, lives with (but is not involved with) prickly Turkish immigrant Senay (Audrey Tatou), both of whom struggle against immigrant officials -- and their own feelings. Okwe works by his own strong morals, hampered by a dark secret. But one day Okwe makes a grisly discovery in the hotel where he works -- a clog in a toilet that turns out to be a human heart.

His boss Juan (Sergi Lopez) tells him to not say anything. Does Okwe obey him? Of course not. He digs deeper, and soon uncovers a sinister web that hits close to the heart: Desperate immigrants sell their organs in exchange for forged papers and passports. As the immigration officials start to close in on Okwe and Senay, they must figure out what to do about the organ smuggling ring.

A lot of movie moralizing is contrived and poorly-scripted. But Stephen Frears manages to stick the moral dilemmas in the faces of the viewers and make them stick. Okwe's conflicted feelings when he discovers the organ trafficking are wonderful, especially as he himself is a doctor who could help people, but working for an evil man. Similarly we see Senay, a religious girl, in a slow, inexorable downward slide.

We see many immigrants, all with different dreams, goals, and pasts. And Frears makes them all come alive. He shows London as a city with a dark underbelly, with plenty of sinister big buildings where immigrant workers struggle to remain anonymous. Most sinister of all: That people will sell their organs or their bodies in order to find a better life.

Audrey Tatou shatters the public perception of her in "Dirty Pretty Things," shifting into the role of a trodden-on Turkish maid. She's absolutely masterful, fragile and sad. Chiwetel Ejiofor brings wonderful expressiveness and dignity to his role, but doesn't have quite the dimension of Lopez or Tatou. Sergi Lopez is one of the best screen villains in quite some time, absolutely making the screen sparkle. But you'll hate his guts. Also good is Sohie Okonedo as an upbeat hooker and Zlatko Buric as the likable doorman.

Not for the faint of heart, "Dirty Pretty Things" left me staring at a semi-dark screen when the film had ended. Powerful, gritty, and stark. One of the must-sees of the year.

You can view director Stephen Frears' DIRTY PRETTY THINGS one of two ways, maybe even more than that.

It allows viewers the chance to see a side of London that is never shown, an underground world of illegal immigrants trying to get by and gain legal citizenship while trying to evade authorities. It also shows viewers a rather creepy and twisted plot involving the black-market sale of human organs and how willing some people are to pursue their dreams. The film also gives Audrey Tautou her first English-speaking role and features her prominently in a rather odd, completely compelling love story.

I was rather pleased with this movie, which though flawed is never boring. And the ending of it was particularly satisfying.

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an illegal immigrant living in London who is fleeing a secretive past in Nigeria. He is on the constant run from immigrant officials and must work two jobs just to keep his head above water. He befriends Senay (Audrey Tautou) while working at Hotel Baltic who is also an illegal immigrant from Turkey. One night Okwe finds a human heart in one of the hotel rooms toilet. Using his previous knowledge of medicine he begins to solve the case of the mysterious human heart. Along the way his moral and ethical values are constantly challenged as he is confronted with grave decisions.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS is an intriguing and smart crime thriller and love story all rolled into one. This film does an excellent job revealing the hidden population of illegal immigrants residing in London and all the turmoil and risk they encounter just to not be deported. The strong political and economic themes enrich the plot rather than distract the audience. In addition, the characters are real and the acting is superb. I highly recommend this film.

Okwe (Chjwetel Ejiofor) is an illegal Nigerian immigrant in London, who drives a taxi by day and works as a hotel desk attendant at night. He rents a couch, on which he catches an occasional few minutes of sleep, in the apartment of Senay (Audrey Tautou), a young Turkish woman who works as a maid at the hotel. When tending to a backed up toilette at the hotel one night, Okwe makes a bizarre discovery: Clogging the commode is a healthy human heart, obviously adrift from its owner. And so Okwe begins to unravel the hidden activities behind the respectable facade of the Baltic Hotel.

"Dirty Pretty Things" is a hybrid atmospheric thriller and gritty drama, written by Steven Knight and directed by the brilliant Stephen Frears. The story takes place exclusively among normally "invisible" service workers: taxi drivers, maids, porters, and prostitutes. Telling a tale of people who go largely unnoticed, even as they perform tasks that make the city tick, gives the film a covert atmosphere that supports the seedy and suspenseful narrative. The film's performances are outstanding. Chjwetel Ejiofor commands attention and inspires empathy as Okwe, an ethical man seemingly living in an unethical and intractable world. Audrey Tautou is sympathetic as Senay, who tries to preserve something of her culture's values while living in London's underbelly and dreaming of someplace better. Benedict Wong gives an interesting turn as a resident physician at a local hospital and friend of Okwe's. The most impressive performance may come from Sergi Lopez, a Spanish actor who does not speak English, but turns in a powerhouse performance as Juan, the hotel's manager, in English, nevertheless. I have to attribute the decision to hire two actors who didn't at the time speak English -Tautou and Lopez- to play key English-speaking roles to Stephen Frears' eccentricity. But it works remarkably well.

"Dirty Pretty Things" is billed as a thriller, and although the film is a drama about disillusionment more than anything else, it plays by the rules of a thriller. It stretches credibility. I wouldn't have trouble believing what goes on in that hotel if it were in a third world country,but I don't buy it in London. It's not realistic. "Dirty Pretty Things" gets away with this because it is so emotionally authentic. It's very effective as a character drama, and typically fantastic as a thriller. Writer Stephen Knight has imbued the film with enough comedy that the drama doesn't become oppressive, and it's a great credit to him that he was able to make us laugh, given the film's subject matter. This great script has a distinct subversive feel, and the film is filled with great character actors. "Dirty Pretty Things" is an odd, atmospheric, but enjoyable hybrid mystery, with the kind of character writing that big budget thrillers can only dream of.

The DVD: The extras aren't thrilling. Bonus features include a "making of" documentary entitled "Behind the Scenes" and an audio commentary by director Stephen Frears. "Behind the Scenes" is short and says very little. The audio commentary is uneven. There are a few interesting tidbits amidst a generally humdrum narration about filming and locations. Captioning is available in English. Subtitles are available in French.

I only wanted to see this movie to see Audrey Tatou in action again. Amelie hooked me.
This movie about organ selling in exchange for passports/legal papers is a beautiful love story. Not the typical guy meets girl, bad things happen, all ends well kind of love story...but a love story about human nature.
The doctor from Lagos and the refugee from Turkey work together in a way that proves anything is possible. This moving is compelling, entertaining and unexpected. The twist is unique and the ending is superb. You absolutely can't go wrong with this one.

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an illegal refugee from Nigeria, a doctor who scrapes by on two jobs in a London peopled by immigrants. One night, while trying to unclog a toilet in one of the rooms of the hotel where he works, he discovers a human heart stuffed into the pipes. This provides his unwilling entry into a very dark part of the underground economy, where he will ultimately be faced with choices that no one should have to make.

This terrific film uses the basic structure of a thriller to present a very human story with characters that are very easy to empathize with. These are good people with tragic stories trying to find a place in a world that seems to have no room for them. The relationship between Okwe and the Turkish girl Senay (Audrey Tautou), who has fled an arranged marriage, is very tender and melancholy. Kudos go to the entire cast as well as director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Steve Knight./

I have read many reviews appropriately commenting on the wonderful performance of Audrey Tautou as Turkish Immigrant Senay in Stephen Frears' "Dirty Pretty Things", but I haven't seen a comparable amount of words praising the tight, believable script and the wonderfully noble performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Okwe, a Doctor from Lagos on the run from authorities for reasons that are not revealed until well into the final act. My favorite movies ares ones with strong leading characters who act with heroic nobleness. I get an absolute thrill watching Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, or Humphrey Bogard as Rick Blaine, forcing Ilsa to get on that plane out of Casablanca because he loves her and knows there will be hell to pay to take any other course. I love it when Indiana Jones is secretly watching the child slaves in "Temple of Doom" and he is just so outraged that without thinking he plunks a guard with a rock.

Okwe is such a character. He is a man of principles, working shoulder to shoulder with desperate people in a world without principles. His status as an illegal alien makes it impossible for him to even think about working as a Doctor. So to make ends meet he works two menial jobs. He drives a cab for a company with other drivers who routinely stop him in the back room to get treatment for their gonorrhea. At his other job he works as night porter at the kind of hotel that has an hourly rate to accommodate the prostitutes who bring their work to these rooms.

Okwe is the kind of man who plays chess and engages in deep, meaningful conversations for fun. His friend Guo Yi works at the hospital morgue, loses to Okwe in chess, and procures antibiotics for all the cases of the drip back at the cab company.

This movie also has several characters who see nothing wrong with exploiting the perpetually scared immigrants. Two different characters force desperate young women into having sex rather than being reported to Immigration, and in this movie these coerced rapes are just tips of the seedy iceburg underbelly.

The way the movie progresses was uplifting to me, though, although it would be too much of a spoiler to say why. By the end I felt that the noble characters had escaped with their self-respect intact, and the two scumbags had received comeuppances of a painful sort.

The cinematography was reminiscent of Tautou's other famous film, Amelie. If you like watching movies about characters that you can care about, I recommend Dirty Pretty Things highly.

I gave it 5 stars only because there is no possibility to give 6. I am buying another one to give it as a gift. Gut-wrenchingly realistic story, a tour-de-force through the roads illegal emigrants in London have to travel, superb acting, and not only by Audrey Taotou, but all of her co-stars, plus great romance, plus ... an ending you will not forget. Oh, let me add this: You will NOT WANT TO FORGET.

Going into this...I had no idea what sort of movie to expect. The paragraph long description in the newspaper sounded like something akin to a mystery / slasher flick. Leaving the movie, TOTALLY THRILLED I had come, I'm still at a loss as to how to describe it.

It IS a mystery. But it's also a romance. And a socio-political commentary. And a rich character drama. And even a sly comedy from time to time.

It deals with the "sub-culture" of illegal workers in England, living under the radar and all working in a posh but seedy hotel in London. They come from all over the world, and live in great poverty, afraid of making too many waves. We are introduced to a desk clerk from Africa, a man who fled his country for a "crime he didn't commit" and now is just getting by. When called to a hotel room about some faulty plumbing, he discovers a human heart clogging the toilet! Sounds like a slasher flick, right? Not hardly. This is only the jumping off point for a movie that is so tender in its characterizations that I have rarely rooted more avidly for its principals.

This is a movie for adults, of course, and also for adults who don't mind a movie that has a lot of plot threads on its mind. But it ties them all neatly together, as secrets are piled up but eventually are all explained. The climax is thrilling, in a low key way, and very satisfying. There is also a very bittersweet romance, that I won't delve into here, that was truly sweet and memorable.

I know I haven't explained the movie all that well...but trust me, it's a doozy of a good time.