Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 19, 2005 | | Summary | Great acting, some plot misfunction | Content
 | Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tatou star in this dark mystery that takes place in London's underbelly. Ejiofor is Okwe, a Nigerian doctor who has illegally imigrated and must work two jobs--as a cab driver and a hotel clerk--to make ends meet. Tatou is Senay, a young Turkish woman, who is still working on the equivalent of a "green card" and does not yet have citizen status. Senay works at the same hotel as Okwe and lets him rent space in her apartment. Both are tightly wound and neither are entirely comfortable with the others' presence.
When Okwe finds a heart in one of the hotel's toilets during his shift, he is shocked and upset. He tells the hotel manager what he has found, only to be told that he should ignore it. Inevitably Okwe finds himself in the middle of a sordid business and blackmail, with Senay caught up as well.
I hate to be vague about the plot, but I don't want to spoil it either. There are, however, a few loose ends, which ended up bothering me long after I was done watching the movie. The acting makes up for it and Ejiofor's acting alone deserves five stars. His eyes are so communicative and you can really feel the weight of his sense of duty and his powerlessness as an illegal alien. I appreciated the way the movie makes you think about people in menial jobs--doesn't do to underestimate the people around you--though I think the message was a little heavy handed right at the end. Tatou is also very good and the character of Senay is very, very different from that of Amelie. Some great supporting characters, including Juliette the prostitue, played by Sophia Okonedo, whom I hope I'll see in more movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 06, 2005 | | Summary | Under the pretty lies the dirty | Content
| Dirty Pretty Things, directed by Stephen Frears, captures the experiences of immigrants in London and the life they live. The movie centers around a hotel where Okwe (Chitwetel Ejiofer) is a Nigerian immigrant working in a glittery, yet seedy hotel. Senay (Audrey Tatou) is his roommate and also has a job cleaning the hotel after the prostitutes fleece the coins from their clients. Okwe's boss, Juan (Sergi Lopez) plays the villian in this movie and has some dirty, shady dealings going on in the hotel that has become lucatative at the expense of illegal immigrants (don't want to spoil the movie for you). The characters are all drawn closer into conflict by wants and needs and thus the conflict occurs between Okwe, Sergi and Senay.
Frears shows the audience a small (really small) glimspe of the difficult and improvish life immigrants have. This movie is helped immeasurably by the performance of Chiwetel Ejiofer, who steals the movie away from Audrey Tatou. Tatou's character wasn't developed as in depth as ejiofer or Lopez, thus she can across as staged and wooden, but Tatou does radiate a beauty that is striking. Sohie Okonedo plays a wise cracking hooker that lends a quirkiness to the film, and has a beauty that rivals Tatou. Lopez plays an excellent villian, his script is nicely constructed thus his twisted deals really have you hating this guy toward the end of the film. However, their were some faults in the movie: the heart in the toliet makes no sense, a heart is worth more than a kidney; and why would Lopez be so careless about the operation or about trusting Okwe (especially giving him the passport and money, when he knows he loves Senay). Even with those small flaws, Dirty Pretty Things comes across as a wickly dirty treasure of a film. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 26, 2005 | | Summary | Thoughful and Understated | Content
| "We are the people you do not see."
"Dirty Pretty Things" is a film about the people we interact with every day, who we often don't take note of. Maids, janitors, late-night hotel clerks, taxi drivers, and the like. These are the people the film chooses to focus on, to give us some insight, and maybe to make us notice those we normally would not.
Okwe is the central character of the film. Early on, we find out he once was a doctor in another country, but now he's living in London and working as both a cab driver by day and a hotel clerk by night. He lacks a place to live of his own, so he's sharing an apartment with a maid at the same hotel, a young Turkish girl named Senay. He has many other friends throughout the city, all expatriates of one kind or another, now living in London and most of them doing odd jobs. Through the story of the film we come to know each of these people, the ones who normally slip under our radar.
The characters are well-drawn, but not at the sacrifice of the story. It grabs you right away, as Okwe is investigating a room just vacated in the hotel and discovers a heart stuck in the pipes of the toilet. A human heart. Okwe's dark discovery in the hotel room leads to him uncovering further depredations, all of them pointing to the things that happen underneath the surface of "civilized" society. These are the things that the title speaks of, the dirty things that we try to dress up and make pretty, but for those who actually experience them, they are still disgusting and unwanted.
As Okwe learns more about what is going on, we learn more about why he is in London, and why he is not a practicing physician...and just who he really is. We find that he's doing what he's doing and he is where is he is because he wants to stay under the radar, because he doesn't want to be noticed. The reasons for this will doubtless surprise you. When Okwe says, late in the film, "We are the people you do not see," we understand that this is how he prefers it. He's an intelligent, caring man...and he avoids notice as much as possible.
Senay, played by Audrey Tautou, is the other main character in the movie. If you're expecting Tautou to reprise her sprightly performance from "Amelie," think again -- Senay could not be less like Amelie. Senay is nervous, a little cold, and very serious. Tautou turns in a fine performance here, and she certainly adds extra dimension to the film. It is through Senay that we finally get the full picture of Okwe and his motivations, and it is also through her that another face is put on the faceless ones, the ones we do not see.
"Dirty Pretty Things" is not a happy movie. It's not a movie you see to feel good. It does have a great story with a lot of entertainment value, but maybe -- hopefully -- it will also help to open your eyes a little to the people around you, those you don't see, that you should see. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 02, 2005 | | Summary | Dirty Pretty Things is 5 thumbs up! | Content
| "Dirty Pretty Things" is an outstanding movie showing the struggle that illegal immigrants must go through to get into America. "Okwe" is an African-American who was a doctor back in his home town. He comes to London and finds a job as a cab driver and a front desk clerk of a ritzy hotel in London. One day while trying to fix a toilet in one of the hotel's guest rooms, Okwe discovers the problem that is clogging up the toilet is a human heart. He immediately realizes this is no ordinary hotel and it is filled with many surprises including prostitution, drugs, and illegal side jobs. Okwe temporarily lives with one of the hotel maids and the two of them eventually fall in love. Their journey portrays the challenges that immigrants face to get to America. They must change their entire identity and lifestyle in order to reach their goal of freedom. This is a very touching movie with a surprisingly-twisted ending and I recommend that everyone see it at least once to understand how much we take living in this wonderful country, filled with opportunities, everywhere for granted.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 01, 2005 | | Summary | An Eye Opener | Content
| After watching the movie, "pretty dirty things", I am left with more of an uappreciation of what immigrants go through to get into the United States. This movie did an amazing job of showing how far some will go to migrate into the U.S. for better job opportunities. It exposed the evils of money and greed within the management of a hotel, but also showed how far friends will go to help out one another. In the end, this movie did a good job of showing the underground world of illegal immigration. It has changed my own view of illegal immigrants and showed that all they want is a better life for themselves, which they will do anything to obtain. |
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