45worlds
Cinema



My Beautiful Laundrette

Other Titles:   View 1 Title
Year:1985
Country:  UK
Language:English
Genre:Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDB:IMDB Page
Rating:7.0  Rate
Collection:  Seen It     Wishlist 
Community: 3 Have Seen


DirectorStephen Frears
Selected CastDaniel Day-Lewis as Johnny
 Saeed Jaffrey as Uncle Nasser
 Roshan Seth as Papa Hussein
 Gordon Warnecke as Omar
 Derrick Branche as Salim
 Rita Wolf as Tania
 Shirley Anne Field as Rachel
ProducerSarah Radclyffe
 Tim Bevan
WriterHanif Kureishi
SoundtrackHans Zimmer


Comments and Reviews
 
alexlincs
4th Dec 2020
 Rated 7/10
This film famously made stars of the director (Stephen Frears - Philomena, Dirty Pretty Things, The Grifters) , writer (Hanif Kureshi - although I think his later Buddha of Suburbia was better), Hans Zimmer did the score (Inception, The Dark Knight, Interstellar) and actor Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot, In The Name Of The Father, Gangs Of New York).

The film was produced for the Channel 4 TV station in the UK, but it ended up playing the Edinburgh Film Festival and later art cinemas in New York to critical acclaim. It benefited hugely from being shot on 16mm which has meant the film looks good today; films that were shot on video in the 80s largely look bad even when remastered.

The film is a fairly simple story about two young men, one an Indian, the other a white racist who end up forming a romantic,sexual relationship while working in a laundrette in London. Hanif Kureshi creates a lot of social commentary woven into the script. It's worth noting at the time homosexuality was still illegal for men under 21 in the UK and interracial relationships weren't as accepted as they are now. The film is a bit of a time capsule and I think some viewers will wonder what the fuss is about (a bit like watching Guess Who's Coming To Dinner today). It's brightly photographed and quite a bitter-sweet film, but it's not the masterpiece it is made out to be in my opinion.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?
 


Add a Comment or Review about this movie


Lists

BFI Top 100 British films - 100 Movies - List by Dr Doom

Tags:  Channel 4

This Movie:  Add Image  :  Add Video  :  Add Missing Info  :  Make Correction  :  Add to List  :  Add See Also  :  Add Tag  :  Edit Images  :  Show Image Data  :  Credits  :  BBCode
45worlds website ©2024  :  Homepage  :  Search  :  Sitemap  :  Help Page  :  Privacy  :  Terms  :  Contact  :  Share This Page  :  Like us on Facebook
Vinyl Albums  :  Live Music  :  78 RPM  :  CD Albums  :  CD Singles  :  12" Singles  :  7" Singles  :  Tape Media  :  Classical Music  :  Music Memorabilia  :  Cinema  :  TV Series  :  DVD & Blu-ray  :  Magazines  :  Books  :  Video Games  :  Create Your Own World
Latest  »  Items  :  Comments  :  Price Guide  :  Reviews  :  Ratings  :  Images  :  Lists  :  Videos  :  Tags  :  Collected  :  Wanted  :  Top 50  :  Random
45worlds for music, movies, books etc  :  45cat for 7" singles  :  45spaces for hundreds more worlds