DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (2003)

Directed by: Stephen Frears

Screenplay by: Steven Knight

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Zlatko Buric, Sergi López

Dirty Pretty Things benefits from the best script (it's by Steve Knight), hands down, written for a movie released in 2003. Great performances by the whole cast; tight, resourceful direction by Stephen Frears, and an unexpectedly poignant message about the exploitation of the powerless that goes on among us all the time. The final moments, when the two leads have a shot at a future though not without some heartbreak, are worth sitting through a year's worth of mediocre movies to experience.

Runtime: 97 min.

Jay Antani © 2006 Perihelion Journal