My Beautiful Laundrette
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Movie Reviews of My Beautiful Laundrette
Movie Review: heartwarming
Summary: 5 Stars
The film covers a short period of time in the life of Omar, a young Pakistani living in London in the 80's. His father is a brilliant, well educated socialist who was famous back home but is a nobody there, so he has taken to his bed with a bottle of vodka. His hope is in Omar, and he expects him to go to college to understand the evils of society. Meanwhile, though they need cash and he calls on his successful brother, Nassar to give Omar a summer job in one of his many businesses.
We watch Omar as he gains favor with Nassar and gets to manage one of his run down laundrettes in a poor area of the city. He wants to follow in his uncle's footsteps and make a lot of money. The plot thickens as he runs into an old childhood friend, Johnny, a lower class native Brit who has turned into a petty criminal and hangs out with a group of racist skinhead types. We follow Omar as he deals with the various personalities in the extended family, including a female cousin who has her eye on him.
Omar persuades Johnny to help him turn the laundrette into something spectacular and the project gives the film its center. We see squalor turned into beauty as the two boys realize their dream and meanwhile we see them fall in love with each other. It's not a simple success story, though, and they have to contend with enemies in both groups--the Pakistani family and the skinheads.
There is so much richness in this small, unpretentious, made for TV film...themes of class distinction, political views, sexuality, roles of women as well as race. The film just tells the story without preaching at us. I found myself rooting for each of them, at one time or another, with the exception of the totally vile Salim. The acting is terrific and Daniel Day Lewis will grab your heart. And even though there is plenty to worry us as the plot unfolds, I found myself feeling good at the end. A very human film.
Movie Review: Touching story about class and cultural differences
Summary: 5 Stars
People made a huge deal out of this movie because of the gay content. It's really very minimal (two kisses, a lick on the neck and one very tasteful yet erotic scene and another little kiss later) Maybe a total of 3 or 4 minutes of the film (ok, though that turned into a half hour by all the replaying I did of those scenes - and yes, I'm a straight girl and still can't get enough of DDL's passionate kisses) It's very touching because it's so natural and a complete non-issue. No one dies of AIDS, no one makes a big drama scene about coming out of the closet, no one demands attention and acceptance for being gay(though *of course* gay people should be accepted) the film just really goes out of its way to show there's *nothing* deviant or strange to homosexuality. You could even see it as a symbolic point, that it's the one thing Omar and Johnny share that does not fit into either of their cultural equations. My two other favorite characters were Omar's father and Tanya. This Pakistani family reminded me of my family. I am not Pakistani but the issues are the same. The dad was very poignant in the way he wanted better for his son, how he couldn't let go of his upper class background and how he looked down on the Johnny's sort but was kind and wanted better for him too. He reminded me of my grandparents. And then there was Tanya. I loved how she sort of bonded with Johnny in their way. What a great performance she gave. This film has so many threads and nuances and Omar's character balances it all with so much grace, respecting his culture and keeping close to his family but being true to himself at the same time by staying involved with Johnny.
I *love* Daniel Day Lewis!
Movie Review: A Complex and Stunning Film
Summary: 5 Stars
I just watched this movie twice in the last twelve hours, and as I couldn't stop thinking about it, I thought I would write a review. For me the thing that makes "My Beautiful Laundrette" so memorable is the intentional ambiguity of the film. When you have finished watching it, you're not sure what exactly the director is trying to say to you - this is not a shallow Hollywood creation. The movie paints stunning portraits of race relations between the Pakistani and English denizens of London, the conflict between women and men, between the working and middle classes, between fascists and communists, the independent-minded, and the family-oriented, the straight and the gay. But the movie doesn't focus on any of one of these issues and presents, instead, a collage that is more composed of questions than answers.Also amazing is the movie's depiction of a gay relationship - the film doesn't dwell on the sexual orientation of its characters, it simply presents them as they are, with no commentary of any sort - there is no coming out, no discussing "the relationship", and no tears. Nor do words like gay or queer even appear in the film. The boys' physicality acts instead as a backdrop to the other events and thoughts in the movie, complicating matters further. Scenes depicting emotion are beautifully written and filmed, as is everything else in the movie, but "My Beautiful Laundrette" seems to have been able to show something Hollywood has yet to: that The Relationship is not always the focus of life, wether it be straight, gay, or indifferent.
Movie Review: Daniel Day Lewis Gets Discovered
Summary: 5 Stars
Before My Beautiful Launderette, Daniel Day Lewis was a nobody. Afterwards, he was a force to contend with (four years later he would be an Oscar winner).
Omar (Saeed Jaffrey) is an unemployed guy who lives with his dad in a council flat in Lambeth. But he wants to be more like his wealthy Uncle Nasar. Uncle gives him a start by offering him a job to manage a Laundromat. But this Laundromat is a dump and there is a string attached, Omar must date his cousin.
To make some extra money, Omar delivers drugs for another cousin. Omar decides to spruce the Laundromat up and enlists his friend Johnny (DDL). Johnny comes up with an idea of skimming some of the drugs to fund the upgrades. They reopen the luxury Laundromat and it is a hit.
The problem with dating his cousin is that Omar is in love with someone else, Johnny. This is deftly handled and it hits you from the blindside.
This film is great from many different directions. It shows insight into the Pakistani culture and the poor of London in the early 80's.
This is a great performance by Daniel Day Lewis and everyone should see it!
DVD EXTRAS: None
Movie Review: One of the best low-key stories you'll ever see
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been griping for over a year about "the powers that be" putting this incredible classic on DVD, and finally here it is -the British dramedy "My Beautiful Laundrette" is more than just a love story where the love is between two men; this film will make you laugh, make your eyes well with tears, and make you angry as it explores the working classes of England, as well as the racial tensions that exist between white and Pakistani people there. It's touching, funny, romantic, charming, and full of heart. Most of all, it's very real; many people today may freak at the sight of a young, punkish Daniel Day Lewis passionately (and I mean PASSIONATELY) kissing/making love with another man (the beautiful Gordon Warnecke), but if you can get past that, you nearly forget you are watching a movie - the characters are that real, your ability to care for them that real.For gay or gay-friendly folks who want to see a good, simple, character-driven kind of filmmaking, with no special effects or explosions or heavy prosthetic makeup to compensate for the lack of script, "My Beautiful Laundrette" is true art not to be missed.