Skip to main content

My Beautiful Laundrette (UK)

I know a lot of people have loved this movie over a period of time. I saw this film , I guess 6 years ago and vaguely remember not being too impressed with it. But now, with time gone by and my experience with gay themed movies being much broader, it was time to revisit this film for my blog. Sadly, despite some decent performances, the film still did not manage to rise beyond average in my mind. It is quite possible that I amassing seeing something in the film that the others are.

Nasser and his ally Saleem have a number of small businesses and are doing very well for themselves. Meanwhile his brother, a once famous journalist  and now alcoholic Ali, lives in a seedy flat in a poor neighborhood with his son Omar. To help his brother, Nasser gives Omar a job doing menial labor. But Omar, with bigger plans, talks Nasser into letting him manage Nasser's run down laundrette. Enters Johny, a friend of Omar's since they were kids who has been a street punk for a while. Omar invites him to change his life and essentially work for him. The two together think they ill be able to make something out of heir life. It is not very clear when or how, but it turns out that Omar and Johny are not friends but lovers. And Johny is ready to do anything and everything for Omar. He loves him dearly. Nasser tries to marry off his daughter to Omar but they both don't want it. Saleem becomes a pain in their plans when the other street punks take a revenge against Saleem and in the process end up causing damage to the launderette but this incident brings Omar and Johny back closer from the stressful days that were driving them apart.

The film depicts life in 80s and how immigrant Asian communities and Brotishers treated each other. The film thankfully doesn't get overboard in any aspect. Be it street punks or Omar and Johny's relationship. It is surprising, considering that the film came out in 80s, their relationship is shown as any normal relationship would. They are not afraid or shameful or shy. They are just being themselves. Their love scene is gorgeous. When you first see Johnny he seems so rough and coarse and low class, but as he begins to seduce Omar while Omar talks about the past he suddenly seems powerful and sophisticated. I think, for whatever reason Johny truly loved Omar because he even says to Salem once that ' In my opinion it is always worth waiting for Omar'. Despite all of their differences both Omar and Johny seem to have a profound respect for one another, which will hopefully enable them to continue their relationship, although the ending is left rather open. The film also gives us an insight into how first generation immigrants have to deal with the in-between feeling. Every actor performs really well. Seeing Daniel Day Lewis as Johny is very interesting considering he recently won his third oscar.

Despite this long review, I still feel there was a lot left to be desired and a lot of questions unanswered as a viewer in my mind. But I can't even imagine how ahead of its time it must have been in 80s. (6/10)

Comments

ILHiker said…
I just rewatched this for the first time since I saw it in theatres in the 80s. I remember how important it was to me then--a movie with a gay couple who didn't have aids, didn't die, weren't tragic and were just sort of regular people rather than stereotypes. I liked it this time around, didn't love it, but that's OK. I agree with your review--I think it's like a lot of things people saw when they were young, the reviews come as much from the memory and nostalgia as they do the film itself.
Golu said…
I agree 100% with you. I think it because of the nostalgia aspect that this film still features in almost all lists of must watch gay themed films. From a historical perspective, I see the enticement but the fact that it was way ahead of its time, but we all need to move and keep updating that list . lol

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,