My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

I saw the video in a library, and remembered the title from decades ago. So how good was the movie, and what was it supposed to be about? The description on the case made it sound intriguing.And the movie actually started out interestingly enough. Omar is a teenager who is part of a family from Pakistan in the Margaret Thatcher era. He is told by his alcoholic former journalist father to get a job and off the dole before he goes to college. Omar works at washing cars for an uncle who is involved in criminal rackets, before said uncle has him managing a grimy, low-class laundromat. Finding a white childhood friend who had fallen in with racist unemployed street punks, Omar hires him to help with the laundromat, as well as protect him from local thugs. A new wrinkle occurs when Omar and his friend suddenly become gay lovers who do a lot of French kissing.Presumably this was meant to be a social message movie, but a contrived storyline and characters we do not like or care about bring things down. The sudden emergence of the gay relationship is unconvincing and seems to have been put it for shock value rather than making a genuine point about homosexuality (some gay reviewers were unhappy with this movie). Also the uncle's success came from being in the rackets rather than hard work and diligence. Is the point of the movie that Pakistani immigrants are fundamentally crooked, or immigrants cannot make it in Britain through honest work? Nobody in this movie comes across in a good light-including the people who made the movie. How this movie has been well-regarded is anybody's guess.

Under the iron curtain of Thatcherism in the 1980s, UK veteran Stephen Frears' fourth feature film is an ethnic barrier-breaker in the world queer cinema, much as its fervid confrontations between races and social classes, the central closeted romance between an ex-punk Johnny (Day-Lewis) and a Pakistani Briton Omar (Warnecke) is nurtured with robust intimacy and élan. Enclosed by a synth-pop heavy pulse, the film starts with Johnny and his gang being expelled from their squatting apartment by some heavies, a similar territory Daniel Day-Lewis would retread in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993), then cutting to introduce another protagonist, Omar, a college dropout sent to work for his uncle Nasser (Jaffrey) by his bed-ridden father (Seth), a disillusioned idealist and leftist), in Nasser's car-washing lot, Omar meets Nasser's business partner Salim (Branche), a menacing and overbearing bully who conducts some seedy business and Nasser's mistress Rachel (Anne Field), who assumes a quite modernized view of being the other woman, but the entire entanglement will end up with some ludicrous witchcraft. Omar is ambitious and fast-learning, soon he gets the permission to run Nasser's dilapidated laundromat, and reunites with Johnny, who has been his best friend since childhood, together they embezzle the dough from Salim's underhand drug smuggling and refurbish the laundrette and make a successful business, their romance is also rekindled. But at the same time, Omar is obliged by Nasser to marry his disobedient daughter Tania (Wolf), and Johnny is reckoned as a betrayer by his ne'er-do-well gang members since he is working for Palestinians (also as an unscrewer for kick out Nasser's impecunious tenants), in addition to the conflict between Omar and Salim, there will be blood in the end. Violence is a requisite in depicting the gulf between well-off immigrants and poverty-stricken native malcontents, xenophobia, racial bias and chauvinism, all can be easily related and incited under the harsh environs, but Frears doesn't attempt to make a point by resorting too much to the excesses, whereas the tender, masculine attraction between two men is rendered with cozy panache and passion, truly, it is an in-the-closet relationship, but it is not about coming-out or AIDs, these routine trappings of the era, their future might be a moot point, however, the virtue of their love strikes as comfortingly authentic and endearing, thanks to the great pair Warnecke and Day-Lewis, one is resolutely sincere and the other is overwhelmingly charismatic, they do make a desirable couple together! Juxtaposed with its peers like MAURICE (1987, 7/10) and ANOTHER COUNTRY (1984, 8/10), MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE's grassroots ambiance and buoyant undertones applicably complement the missing piece of the UK queer cinema menagerie, not revolutionary, but a wonderful bliss indeed.

This movie is quintessentially 1980s Britain. The look, the music, the people and the love of money--all stereotypes of the 80s. However, what is NOT the essence of the 80s is that the film is about Pakistanis who live in the UK and are becoming wealthy at the expense of everything else--this is unique to this film. What is also very unique is that later in the film there is a gay subplot--something that came as a bit of a surprise as homosexuality wasn't often talked about in the 80s--at least not compared to today.The film is about a young and very money-hungry man, Omar. And, to help him earn his fortune, he goes to work for his even more money-hungry uncle. The uncle, either to test him or to punish him, gives him the unenviable job of running a crappy laundromat. And, through some very underhanded means, Omar and his friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis) make the place a success. But, this is only at the midway point in the film--what's next? Well, see it is it sounds like your sort of thing.While I appreciated the risks the film took and its unusual plot, I found the movie pretty awful. No one was the least bit likable and I just didn't care about any of these soulless jerks. As social commentary, the film does work--as entertainment, it doesn't.

Critically acclaimed, My Beautiful Laundrette is a true masterpiece of British cinema, a remarkable film detailing a collide of cultures, minds and values set against a backdrop of Thatcher's troubled and dysfunctional Britain. The incredible images, impressive camera work, superb cinematography combined with an epic screen play with intricately created dialogue of a highly charged and provocative story make this one of the greatest British films, not just of the eighties, but of all time. Directed by Stephen Frears and written by Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette took the world by storm in 1985/86 for its portrayal of gay love, homophobia, racism, capitalism and colliding cultures in such a vibrant and honest way. It was truly a landmark film and for any gay teenager growing up in the 80's a tour de force of hope and possibility. It seemed to come with such authentic honesty that many at the time believed it must have come from the mind of a gay man; however, Hanif Kureishi the writer was a heterosexual male with an incredible vision and remarkable ability.Essentially this is the story of life, love and passion, a love story set during rapidly changing society during a time of great differences between those that have and those that didn't and those trying to moving between the two.Described like this, it is perhaps hard to see why it was such an important and landmark film, yet it managed to encapsulate all the tensions of the economically troubled times with panache and tenacious realistic style. There are numerous aspects of importance at work here, not least the prejudicial racial tensions, demonstrated on both sides of the English / Asian divide, which were oh so common during those days of Thatcher's Britain. Homophobia ran rampant and unchallenged by authority indeed it was practised most by the Tory government and so homosexuality was also a key ingredient to this film along with the rather matter of fact way it was presented, which left little room for argument. There are also issues evolving around the merging of Asian ancestral behavioural and cultural loyalties with the British way of living, which often does not run smoothly. As this was originally a 'made for TV' movie it could quite easily have descended into soap opera and over sentimentality, yet it managed to stay way above that line, thankfully so. Also with comedic touches here and there it is prevented from falling into a possible gloomy pit of self-obsessed depression, again this is a fine testament to the skills of both the writer and director. My Beautiful Laundrette remains to this day a wonderful and remarkable piece of British cinema.Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO