DIRTY PRETTY THINGS

Director: Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liasons, High Fidelity, The Grifters)
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sophie Okonedo, Sergi Lo

Dirty Pretty Things is the story of the struggle to survive for illegal immigrants in western nations. It's about the dirty little secret lives they're forced to lead and the second society that exists just below our own. It's about how we rich westerners appreciate that we can get cheap cab rides and hotel service from them, yet don't want to legitimize their existence.

This particular story is set in London with two main characters: a Nigerian physician reduced to cab driving and concierge work, and a chaste Turkish girl (Audrey Tatou) who ran away from her ultra-conservative Muslim upbringing. These two fall in love, but never really get to experience it, for as the movie tells us: They cannot afford to love, they can only survive. That bit may be a tad sappy, but it actually worked quite succesfully. This may sound strange, but the film was pleasingly overdone in it's melodrama. Unfortunately, some other odd elements in the movie did take away from the story. As an example, try this on for size: The climax of the movie, which jerkily shifted gears into a thriller midway through, involved a clean and neat and sterile kidney surgery. This was not a weepy Lifetime movie for women either, where the surgery was an emotional challange. This was a thriller where the *climax* was a kidney surgery!?! Odd? Yes.

Despite some of the strange plot choices, and xcepting some unworthy dialogue peppered here and there, this movie was generally quite enjoyable. This is especially true of the early scenes where we're getting to know these immigrants lives in London. That was actually quite engrossing. Unfortunately, the thriller kidney caper wasn't quite so much so.

Standouts: Some unique plotting and story tone.
Blowouts: Some of those unique plot choices didn't entirely work.

Grade: B-