Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Dirty Pretty Things Blu-ray Movie Review

A great film earns a midlevel Blu-ray release.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 14, 2012

There's a lot to love about Director Stephen Frears' (The Queen) Dirty Pretty Things, chief amongst them that it's different. The movie doesn't really fall into any one category, even if it shows sighs of the Thriller, the Drama, and the Character Study. It's a smooth, intoxicating picture, one that effortlessly pulls the audience into the dark London world where anything can happen and everything does. Best, the movie is incredibly well acted, headlined by a pair of highly talented performers at their very best and supported by several very strong, seamless efforts. The movie is thematically dark but not overwhelmingly so from a visual perspective. It's often impossible to predict where the movie is going, how it's going to get there, or when a shift will occur. It's extraordinarily well paced, even if it's more of a deliberate dialogue-heavy and character arc-based film. In short, there's really nothing to dislike about the movie. It's not for everyone, but anyone interested in a movie that diverges from the mainstream without playing as too odd or detached from reality should make sure to watch Dirty Pretty Things.

I can't stop looking at this lamp...

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Redbelt) is a Nigerian living in London by way of New York City. He drives a cab by day and works the front desk -- amongst other duties -- at the prestigious Baltic Hotel by night. He rarely sleeps, stimulates himself awake with frequency, and crashes with fellow hotel employee and Turkish immigrant Senay Gelik (Audrey Tautou, The Da Vinci Code) when he can catch a few Z's. Their is a strictly platonic relationship, two people just trying to get by in the big city. Senay is forced to quit her job at the hotel and move on when immigration authorities effort to track her down there. Her new job might be temporarily safer, but it comes with its share of problems, the sort of problems pretty young ladies down on their luck must face when working for overpowering men. Meanwhile, Okwe discovers a human heart in an overflowing hotel room toilet. It turns out that the hotel's manager (Sergi López, Pan's Labyrinth) runs an underground human organ harvesting operation, which he sells for counterfeited passports. He learns of Okwe's history in the medical profession -- which the cab company bossman also knows but keeps on the down-low in exchange for treatments -- and demands he enter into the organ harvesting scheme. How will the fates of all three key players interconnect?

Secrets, questions of morality and ethics, despair, sickness, rape, black markets, murder, and all sorts of sordid stuff define Dirty Pretty Things, most of the movie with the emphasis on the former in its title rather than the latter. Yet it's the combination of the two, the struggle to achieve one while leaving the other behind that's the key to the story's success. The picture focuses largely on the plight of two immigrants in modern-day London, but the stories of hopelessness, hiding, fear, and other soul-tearing states of life play with a somewhat more universal theme, one that might be regrettably relatable by any number of people of any state of life and any background. The movie depicts two people attempting to live new lives, leaving the old behind and wanting only to work and blend in. It's those around them who make their lives a challenge, whether for legal reasons or simply to take advantage of their plights, for Okwe blackmail for his skills, for Senay her body. The picture traverses through some incredibly dark scenarios and paints a bleak picture of two lives in flux and fear and uncertainty, yet the movie proves absolutely absorbing and impossible to resist; no matter how unforgiving it may be, no matter how tiny and distant the ray of hope, one cannot stop watching, largely thanks to both the intoxicating structure and the incredible performances that shape it.

Director Stephen Frears brings a steadying presence to the movie, though certainly Dirty Pretty Things is a product not exclusively of Frears' direction but also of Steven Knight's Oscar-nomianted script shaped by dark mystery, dramatic intensity, and complex characters, characters brought to life by standout acting. That's not a bash on Fears or even to suggest that his work is less-than-stellar here. Frears allows the actors and story to carry the film, but he shoots in such a well-defined, albeit subtle, way that he captures the essence of the emotions the characters feel and the scenarios through which they live with startling precision. The picture features several great performances, including a pair of wonderful supporting efforts from Sergi López and Sophie Okonedo as the hotel manager and a prostitute who frequents the hotel, respectively. Audrey Tautou dazzles as Senay, but the movie is absolutely shaped by a wonderfully complex, absorbing, and seamless performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor, easily one of the most under-appreciated actors working today and deserving of an Oscar nomination for his work here. Ejiofor's nuanced performance digs deep and builds a character from the inside out and is the movie's greatest asset. From his first scenes forward, Ejiofor easily draws his audience into the character, into his world. Who is he, what is doing, and where is he going? Why is he important, what is he hiding, and what is his story? It's a character with whom audiences can both instantly relate and gradually discover. Ejiofor's work is the stuff of acting of the highest degree, a complete performance and one worthy of far more recognition.

Dirty Pretty Things Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dirty Pretty Things features an underwhelming 1080p transfer. The image enjoys the expected boost in resolution and stability on larger surfaces over the DVD, but never really looks significantly better than an unconverted SD image. Colors range from overly warm to nicely balanced. Lower-light interiors, and almost all of the hotel lobby scenes, take on a noticeably warm tint that affects faces, clothes, and backgrounds alike, giving every color a noticeably red push. Bright outdoor scenes, such as one taking place in an outdoor market earlier in the film, offer far more vibrant and accurate colors. Flesh tones vary from scene to scene, and black levels are adequate. Detailing rarely impresses, at least not to the level of the best Blu-ray titles. There are a few scattered good-looking textures, such as exterior brick walls or the fine lines and printing on surgical masks as seen in one scene, but faces and clothes and even the ornate elements around the hotel look completely flat and devoid of all but the most basic details. There's a touch of background blocking but not much in terms of banding and edge halos. Speckles and pops are few and far between. It's not pretty and it's not dirty, instead falling somewhere in between.

Dirty Pretty Things Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dirty Pretty Things features a fairly active and enjoyable DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It should come as no surprise that it lacks the brilliant clarity and absolute realism of superior tracks, but Echo Bridge's audio presentation more than suffices and, indeed, delivers a fairly involved and enjoyable listen. Things begin rather poorly with minimal, uninteresting, muddled ambience at an airport, where overhead jets, rolling luggage and carts, and chatty people never really create a thorough, convincing environment. Things improve as the movie moves along. Heavier train rumblings, the din of an outdoor marketplace in chapter three, encircling music in chapter nine, full city ambience in chapter twelve, and all sorts of nicely and surprisingly immersive elements do well to draw the audience into the film. Musical clarity and spacing is fine, and dialogue, the film's bread-and-butter sonic element, plays with good center-focused balance and sufficient clarity. It won't set the world, or even modest sound systems, on fire, but Dirty Pretty Things sounds pretty good on Blu-ray, all things considered.

Dirty Pretty Things Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Dirty Pretty Things contains the following two supplements:

• Audio Commentary: Director Stephen Frears begins by speaking on the project's history and his early involvement in it, shooting locales and challenges, the title, the cast, keeping the plot straight, the picture's tone, and much more. There are some pauses throughout. This is a fairly standard, no-frills sort of commentary. Dedicated film fans might want to listen, but casual audiences would be better off passing.
• Behind the Scenes Featurette (480p, 1:33:1, 6:14): Cast and crew discuss the plot specifics and the characters, intermixed with clips from the film and behind-the-scenes footage.

Dirty Pretty Things Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dirty Pretty Things is a fabulous picture, completely absorbing though emotionally challenging and, sometimes, visually difficult. It's not necessarily graphic, but the scenarios, the unseen, and the possible are enough to make audiences squirm. It's a complete package sort of movie, a movie that's unique, intoxicating, well-written, nicely directed, perfectly paced, and exceptionally acted. In short, Dirty Pretty Things is one of 2002's best, not to be missed for many reasons, not the least of which is the standout performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of Dirty Pretty Things features adequate video, good audio, and a couple of supplements. Highly recommended on the strength of the film.