A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Dirty Pretty Things

Date Viewed: 8/30/03

Details:

Audrey Tautou

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Sophie Okonedo

Benedict Wong

Zlatko Buric

Jean-Philippe Ecoffey

Director: Stephen Frears

Score: +

The Review: This drama gives "the London underground" a whole new meaning.

A bit of character study, a bit of drama, this is actually a pair of interdigitated mysteries. A young Muslim woman from Turkey (Tautou) dreaming about living in NYC, and a multi-talented Nigerian emigre (Okwi: Ejiofor) with a hidden past, are both working off the books in a side-street hotel -- both existing on the fringes of legitimate London society, both trying to make a living in contravention of the laws preventing undocumented aliens from either working or advancing themselves. But then a few odd things happen on Okwi's night watch at the hotel front desk, and his medical background starts him on an investigational path.

Some of the situations are a little raw, and it is very slow starting, but the movie develops a nice momentum, and the characters are interesting.

31-Aug-03

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