Capital Celluloid 2016 - Day 207: Tue Jul 26

My Beautiful Launderette (Frears, 1985): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.45pm


This 35mm screening is part of the 'Check The Gate' season at the Prince Charles, dedicated to presenting films on film that will run at the cinema from 9th July to August 20th. The film will be introduced by the Unicorn Nights film club.

Chicago Reader review:
Directed for television by Stephen Frears (The Hit) from a scenario by playwright Hanif Kureishi, this is a uniquely plausible portrait of life in England, yet its appeal isn't limited to social realism—it also has a twist of buoyant fantasy and romance (1986). Omar, a Pakistani student, charms his wealthy uncle into letting him take over one of his less successful enterprises—a crud-caked launderette in a questionable South London neighborhood. He solicits the help of Johnny, an old school buddy grown into a surly street tough, and as their plans for the business take shape they fall in love. Frears doesn't treat the gay relationship as anything remarkable—which makes the film itself remarkable—but simply as a surge of encouraging human feeling against a background of economic devastation and racial divisiveness. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Gordon Warnecke, and Shirley Anne Field.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the Unicorn Nights trailer for the evening's entertainment.

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