Dirty Pretty Things

Year: 2002

Grade: C+

Country: UK

Director: Frears

Review

it’s a good enough film. i’m not a big tautou fan so that may have been one draw back, but that aside…the filming style wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t pedestrian so i liked that. also, the acting was solid. i didn’t think much of the story though. the skeleton was good, but the flesh wasn’t enough to keep the film afloat. it starts in an interesting way and then just drops hook, only to pick it up later in the film. for the middle part of the film i thought the story was bogged down by other, tangential issues the frears wanted to address. sure those storylines were interesting or meaningful or pushed the characters a bit, but i felt that the initial mystery, or hook, that was put out there in the beginning of the film was left untouched for too long. as a result the middle, rather than increasing my interest in the characters or those tangential storylines, had me wondering when the first part of the film was going to be picked up again. it’s kinda like telling a story to your roommate like this: “i didn’t do much today, but, oh, your mother called and had some very urgent news about…oh and that reminds me, i was watching the news while you were gone and i found out that seven more soldiers died in iraq. after i watched the news i found that book i had been looking for for so long – it was under the couch for some reason. i had forgotten how good that book was. i also cleaned the refrigerator while you were out. but anyway, back to the phone call from your mom…she said that your sister got in a car accident and went to the hospital, but is feeling okay.” .