Other Titles • Dirty Pretty Things • Kleine schmutzige Geschäfte (2003)
Synopses for Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
1.
The luminous Audrey Tautou (Amelie) stars in Dirty Pretty Things, a riveting thriller about an illegal immigrant in London named Okwe (Chiwetal Ejiofor, Amistad), a doctor in his homeland who now works days as a taxi driver and nights as a hotel desk clerk. When a hooker tells him there's a mess in one of the hotel's bathrooms, Okwe finds a human heart in the toilet. He soon discovers a snare of desperation, poverty, and black-market body organs--and finds that his only friend, a Turkish hotel maid (Tautou), may be the next to be caught. Dirty Pretty Things, skillfully directed by Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons, My Beautiful Laundrette), fuses taut suspense with an unsettling portrait of life among the British underclass of immigrant service workers. Thanks to the excellent cast and script, the movie makes its social points subtly, while the gripping story coils itself around you. --Bret Fetzer
(25 votes)
2.
IN THEATRES: JULY 18, 2003 (NY/LA)
Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a remarkably understated performance in director Stephen Frears's offbeat and gripping drama DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. Ejiofor stars as Okwe, a Nigerian who is trying to make a new life for himself in London, where he works days as a taxi driver and nights as a hotel desk receptionist. When he discovers a human heart in a hotel-room bathroom, he cannot go to the police because he is an illegal alien with a mysterious past that he refuses to talk about. Suddenly he is thrust into the middle of a dangerous situation that threatens to have tragic results for him and those around him. French ingenue Audrey Tautou costars as a Turkish woman who has sought asylum in England, where she is allowed to live but not work. But she must make money, so she works secretly while the government tries to catch her. Benedict Wong turns in a fine supporting performance as Guo Yi, a morgue employee who shares wise and humorous sayings with Okwe, and Sergi Lopez is absolutely chilling as the amorally opportunistic hotel manager. Frears directs the unusual proceedings with a deft hand, slowly revealing secrets that are as gruesome as they are poignant.
(25 votes)
3.
Some Things Are Too Dangerous To Keep Secret.
From Stephen Frears, the Oscar-nominated director of The Grifters (Best Director, 1990) and Dangerous Liaisons, Dirty Pretty Things stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie) in a harrowing tale of struggle and survival for two immigrants who learn that everything is for sale in London's secret underworld! Part of an invisible working class, Nigerian exile Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Turkish chambermaid Senay (Tautou) toil at a west London hotel that is full of illegal activity. Then late one night Okwe makes a shocking discovery, which creates an impossible dilemma and tests the limits of all they know! Honored with numerous European film awards and nominations - including wins at the London Critics Circle Film Awards and the Venice Film Festival - you'll find this gritty urban thriller to be thoroughly engrossing and impossible to forget!
(25 votes)
4.
Okwe, a kind-hearted Nigerian doctor, and Senay, a Turkish chambermaid, work at the same West London hotel. The hotel is run by Senor Sneaky and is the sort of place where dirty business like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. However, when Okwe finds a human heart in one of the toilets, he uncovers something far more sinister than just a common crime.
(25 votes)
5.
With Dirty Pretty Things Stephen Frears (The Grifters) gives us a dark gritty film examining London's seedier underbelly. Oscar nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor is Okwe, a Nigerian doctor who fled to Britain after the death of his family. So far he has evaded capture by the authorities and successfully held down two jobs as a taxi driver and night porter in a downmarket hotel. But all this changes when he finds a human heart blocking a toilet in one of the rooms and discovers his manager is running an organ trafficking operation offering illegal immigrants passports for organs. The plot then follows a well-trodden thriller path as Okwe wrestles with his conscience and also the growing affections of Turkish asylum seeker Senay (Audrey Tautou).
Ejiofor and Tautou give incredibly affecting performances as the disenfranchised inhabitants of the capital city and the plot is harrowing without being sensationalist. The only disappointment is the black-and-white morality that holds the film together. In a drama that sets out to challenge our perceptions and prejudices, the inappropriately Hollywood ending is a letdown that does nothing to raise this film above being a stock thriller, albeit of the more intelligent kind. --Kristen Bowditch
(25 votes)
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