Review of My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) by Anthony V — 25 Apr 2015

This is a movie that I had heard about for years, and I had some vague idea of what it was about, but I wasn't ever interested in seeing it until Daniel Day-Lewis won me over in A Room with a View. That was when I knew I had to watch it, and I'm really glad I did, because it's possibly one of the most intriguing films I've seen in ages, even if I didn't realise it the first time I watched it.

Having been made in 1985, My Beautiful Laundrette takes place in south London at the height of the Thatcher era. It tells the story of Omar, a Pakistani businessman who takes over his family's laundrette, with the help of his lover, Johnny. However, both of them are tangled up in their own problems. As the son of a first generation immigrant, Omar wants to make it in England, but his efforts are complicated by his involvement with Salim (a drug trafficker) as well as threats from a gang of racists. Johnny also has his own set of problems, since he is a former white supremacist from that gang, and he wants to use this business partnership as an opportunity to start over.

When I first saw this movie, I didn't know how to feel about it. There were definitely parts that really resonated with me, but there were other parts that felt outright bizarre. Most movies you watch and then forget about 20 minutes later, but in this case, even when I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I knew I had to see it again. That was when I fully realised how great it was. First of all, what's so fascinating about Laundrette is that it was made in the 80s, but it doesn't feel dated. Instead, it feels more like a period piece that's made to capture a really specific part of British history, like Billy Elliot.

Laundrette only takes place within a small time frame, but it's enough for us to really get a sense of what life was like in this part of England, in this point in time, and how different people got through it. We see immigrants like Omar's father who hate the British government, and on the opposite end, immigrants like Omar and his uncle who want to succeed in this new country. We also have white characters who feel threatened by immigration, as well as white characters who are in the middle. Really, everyone has their own identity crisis, and their own desire to belong somewhere.

Of course, we can't talk about this movie without talking about the acting. There are some really good performances from Saeed Jaffrey and Roshan Seth, both of whom create really interesting and memorable characters, but of course, the big standout is Daniel Day-Lewis. As many people have pointed out, this film came out the exact same year as A Room with a View, where he plays a character so different that it's hard for you to believe they're the same person. People were blown away by it in the 80s, and it's still mind blowing today. He made this film before method acting became a standard part of his process, but even then, he still brings a real sense of humanity and depth to his character. We know Johnny has a rough past with fascist gangs, but we don't get the sense that he has any deep-seated hatred for immigrants. Instead, he's a troubled young person who only got involved with these people because he felt his life was going nowhere, and that group at least gave him an identity and a purpose. That's why people like this are so easy to recruit in real life.

I could go on and on about this movie, because every time I watch it, I want to know more about this world, and more about the characters. I seriously think it would make an awesome TV show, and I'd watch the hell out of it. With that said though, if I were to nitpick, there are a couple of faults here and there. Laundrette was made on a shoestring budget. It was originally going to be a TV movie, but it ended up getting a theatrical release, and ... it shows, because the production values aren't always that good. And then of course there's the music. The bubble music. When I first saw it, it really put me off, but oddly enough, if you watch it again and you know it's coming, you can kinda laugh at it, or try to ignore it. Still, if you're willing to look past it, there is a lot to like in this movie. The acting is great, the story is relatively simple, but it's still great. In terms of representation, it's awesome. I know the film as a whole might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I still can't recommend it enough.