Rated R
Reviewed by: Jim
July 18, 2003		Released by: Miramax

Stephen Frears knows his way around the U.K. and his disturbing taut Dirty Pretty Things has us by the heart from the outset.

There's much more than the discovery in a hotel commode that proves to be an intriguing horror opus sharply scripted by Steve Knight.

A rattled man of Nigerian descent, who happens to be a physician, is Okwe, played with bruised might by Chiwetel Ejiofor.  In this tale of quelled racism, this jaded illegal immigrant is consumed by working as a cabbie and hotel desk clerk.

Sergei Lopez, is the hotel manager, Juan, nicknamed Sneaky, where Okwe toils.  Okwe's duplicitous boss manipulates him as well as devout Muslim Senay, an un-pixie-like Audrey Tautou, in her best work since the whimsical romantic comedy, Amalie.  Senay works as a hotel maid in spite of her temporary visa and develops an amicable relationship with the struggling Okwe.

Like the gritty, digitally-shot 28 Days Later, a variation on the George Romero "Living Dead" films, Frears operates in the underbelly of London with dark wit and a humanistic touch, felt in the secret life of a young Turkish woman and her mindful new black roommate.