bkoganbing Just as greed became good in the Reagan 80s in America it was also a virtue in Thatcher Great Britain of the same era. A lot of people, all kinds of people came to the United Kingdom to make their fame and fortune. Among them the Hussein family from Pakistan who get into a lot of businesses, some of them illegal.In this day and age of terrorism and fear of imposed Sharia law this family would be quite an eye opener. For one thing the wine flows freely, something religious Moslem families just don't indulge in. They're about the same as any Christian families in Great Britain, their share of black sheep as well. No one is looking to be a terrorist, they're too busy making money. Robert Walpole would have been proud.But outsiders there are and a lot of native British don't like these immigrants. The same as on this side of the pond, the new arrivals usually have it rough getting their place at the table.Gay though is still something they're not quite ready for and young Omar played by Gordon Warnecke isn't ready for coming out. He's got some money from a cousin to open a laundromat in their neighborhood. And he gets one of the neighborhood kids played by a young Daniel Day-Lewis to run it.Day-Lewis isn't exactly ready for coming out among his peers, a gang of punks whose descendants were leading the cheers for Brexit. Still things at business and in their personal lives it's a rough go, but they manage.My Beautiful Laundrette is quite the commentary on the Thatcher era in the United Kingdom as well as a nice gay love story. You'll enjoy it best seeing it on both levels.

meowk-04206 to be honest, i started watching this movie by chance. i found it very boring, dowdy, and fittingly dull. i didn't realize the men were lovers at first. That's not really the point, but i was intrigued by the their situation, and taboos. the Spanish girl daniel day lewis lover, wrote about the ethnic chip on omar's shoulder. i found her review interesting. it does sum up issues omar is dealing with. such as acculturation. though i do find his inability to adapt to either culture (according to her review) a personal problem, and decision. do you have to choose? is there an imposed division? yes. self imposed. she mentions looking down on poor whites, as his family of criminal immigrants have their own form of snobbery (her words) and apparently this "ethnic" issue colors his life. considering that he is sleeping with one of those poor whites. in addition to considering arranged marriage. above all the characters were not valuable. no matter how much $$$ omar & family have, he will never be white, or heterosexual. boo hoo. that should be okay. personal issues. with the themes of racism homosexuality and ethnicity, this movie should have been better. the only appeal here is the beauty of the 2 lead actors, and the ending, not their performance. i would pass on this one, but YOU wouldn't know that unless you see for yourself. i wouldn't recommend it, so i don't.

Bryan Kluger Stephen Frears is one of those directors with an amazing body of work, although most people wouldn't be able to tell you anything he ever directed. With films like 'The Grifters', and 'Dangerous Liasons', you can already tell he knows what he's doing behind the camera. He is more known for the iconic John Cusack film 'High Fidelity', the recent award winning film 'Philomena', or even 'Dirty Pretty Things'. Needless to say, this is a quite the impressive list of films, all having very different qualities and tones.But one thing remains constant here, which is Frear's uncanny ability to film his characters so well, that they stay in our lives forever. Well, that and tell an amazing story, no matter how big or small it is. One of Frear's first films was called 'My Beautiful Laundrette', which came out 30 years ago, and was originally made for television, but later converted to a feature film. Currently, the movie has a rare 100% rating still on Rotten Tomatoes and was even nominated for a sole Oscar for Best Screenplay, but lost out to Woody Allen at the time.In addition to this success, this film marked one of the first films for the multi Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, and no, he didn't win an Oscar here. 'My Beautiful Laundrette' centers around a young Pakistani man named Omar (Gordon Warnecke), living in south London during the height of Margaret Thatcher's reign of England. Omar's father wants him to go to university to get a good education and a great job, rather than working dead end jobs, however Omar takes a shining to his uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey), who runs a few businesses, but isn't the best person to look up to, due to his infidelity. Uncle Nasser offers Omar to run a local laundry mat he owns and restore it to make a decent profit.As Omar is working at the laundry mat, he comes across an old friend he hasn't seen in years named Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), a local skinhead now and part of a gang. The two instantly reconnect and hit it off and form a passionate relationship. Omar even has Johnny help with fixing up and running the laundry mat, much to the disrespect of Johnny's fellow gang members and Nasser's business associate, who happens to be a drug runner. It's a simple story really, but it's also a very honest and convincing portrayal of two friends and lovers in a time, where it wasn't really permitted, due to the social and political views of government and the people.This story that tackles homosexuality, racism, and opposing political views is actually told through a light-hearted voice. Even though there is a bit of violence in the movie, it is often comical and heart warming, due to the phenomenal relationship between Johnny and Omar. I also believe that Frears wanted to showcase not only what race, religion, and sexual preference did to one another in the form of treating others with respect or lack thereof, but also the financial situations of people of this time, that allowed them to discriminate against their fellow neighbors.It's an amazing, yet simple story, one that would be hard to replicate in today's world. Daniel Day-Lewis is of course excellent in his role, and his relationship with Warnecke is completely believable. It's a shame those two weren't nominated for acting awards. 'My Beautiful Laundrette' is one film you won't soon forget.

Tim Kidner So says Saeed Jaffrey, easily one of the most recognisable Indian actors, at the film's start and sets the tone for this early Film 4 offering from 1985 as the wheeler-dealer uncle, and who typified Thatcherism's era of entrepreneurial immigrants.Radio Times awards a rare five stars for this provocative and ground- breaking film from the now hugely successful director, now, of Stephen Frears and of course, for Daniel Day Lewis, it might have been his last, presumably such a contentious issue inter-racial gay sex would have been seen (and still viewed as), had he not been both brave AND very good.This was just Frear's second feature film and whilst today the production values lag, many of the scenes are (necessarily?) contrived and the acting variable, it still says a lot. Lest we forget, launderettes were actually in wide existence then, romanticised by jeans adverts and featuring regularly in TV soap Eastenders. If that last bit sounds pedantic, Eastenders itself was seen as ground-breaking and immensely popular, with ratings in the 10s of millions.Saeed's hypocritical (he has a white mistress) Nasser only hands over the laundrette to his nephew (Omar) because he's too lazy to run it himself and it's a thorn in his side. Omar, being one of Thatcher's mass army of 3 million unemployed takes to the challenge and equally unemployed white, former National Front member Johnny (Day-Lewis), a schoolfriend of Omar's get drafted in to help refit the run-down laundrette and to turn it into a Palace full of washing machines.As you can imagine, Johnny's past friends find much to dislike about the company he now keeps, especially as he's been to prison for his past activities and now is not only only cohorting with the Front's seen enemy but having unbridled, active sex with one who is the same sex. Issues around the pressure for Omar to get married, by arrangement are very relevant, both as in being Pakistani and homosexual.For my money, there are just too many small characters, doing little things that we never see again; they do not contribute to the film and if anything, dissolve its strengths. I'm also not keen on Gordon Warnecke's (Omar) performance, his monosyllabic recital of his lines show no depth. Omar may actually have spoken like that but it fails to convince.The romance element is boosted by the way that the refurbished laundrette is to be launched as a dreamy magical palace, with a razzle- dazzle showbiz look and can be seen as the aspiration for people who have little to make a life for themselves.I first saw My Beautiful Laundrette about when it was released and knew friends in the gay community - and have watched the DVD a couple of times since. Those friends saw it more of a championing beacon to their cause and lifestyle and less of a political and economic barometer. Almost no such films were made almost thirty years ago and whilst I'm sure many did just see it as a pro-gay drama, that it was (and remains) a good film is a huge bonus.