We saw this movie when it was first released on the big screen. It just happen to start when we needed a movie to so we had no idea what to expect. What a pleasant surprise this film was. Daniel Day Lewis (in one of his earliest roles) stars with Gordon Warnecke in this unconventional love story. Warnecke plays young Omar, who is given the opprtunity to run his uncle's laundrette. He enlists the aid of his ex-lover, Johnny (played by Lewis) to get the business back on it's feet. The scene in the laundrette that includes Omar and Johnny in the foreground and Omar's uncle and his mistress in the background, is one of the most sensual celluloid scenes I ever scene.

If you are looking for something good and out of the ordinary, I would recommend this one.

"My Beautiful Laundrette" centers on Omar, a young, ambitious and enthusiastic member of the Pakistani Diaspora in London, played by Gordon Warnecke, assigned to run a ratty laundry and turns it into a hip and successful launderette named "Powders", a subtle hint at the business that allowed him to finance it.

Now, take that word Pakistani, it's only two syllables away from one of the ugliest racial slurs in the Oxford dictionary, one delivered from a pedestal of post-colonial superiority to any person whose brown complexion and wavy black hair indicate (or betray) a South-East Asian background, Pakistanis, Indians, Indonesians or a certain Farroch Bulsara before he became Freddie Mercury. To dig even deeper in that turf, it's even surprising that it's from one specific country that originated the denomination as if there was a tacit scale of subservience and that an Indian wouldn't want to be called that way, but not for the right reasons.

Anyway, the film is far beyond these considerations and treat them as a sort of reality check of Britain in the mid-80s and if there's one merit to Stephen Frears' debut and adaptation of Hanif Kureichi's script, is that that very launderette (pun intended) washes down all the preconceptions about a community, which is willing to embrace success British-style in these liberal days where money could buy it and vice versa. Much to Omar's luck, he's got a wealthy uncle who made fortune and I have to write a few words about Saeed Jaffrey who plays the charismatic and colorful Nasser.

This is a man who's well spoken, well-educated, well-established within his community and can enjoy the fruits of his labor without any shame. He's got a family, three daughters, runs many businesses more or less shady and naturally, he's got a mistress, an English one played by Shirley Anne Field and you know this is not a film that scratches on the surface as getting the white girl is one step in the social ladder. Not implying that this was Nasser's intent, his romantic interaction with Rachel are genuine and sincere, but even that sweetness isn't devoid of interest, for a British mistress allows you to behave like a British man in the intimacy as well, waltzing with classic music isn't exactly what Nasser could do with a traditional wife.

What Nasser is looking for is a way to rise above the slur, much to the disgust of his daughter Tania (Rita Wolf) who, risen in Britain, speaks the two languages and can see his father's two-faced or two-hearted nature; still, as a girl, she's also nurtured to satisfy a man, and why not? Omar who's successful and good-looking. Omar looks up to his uncle, who's a far better model than his father (Roshan Seth), a sickly and bitter former journalist who drowns his sorrow in alcohol. To complete the gallery, there's Salim (Derrick Branche) a young shark who asks Omar to dress smart in order to please Margaret Thatcher, quite the clever blow. These young people who are game for the flashy 80s but are fully aware that they're the underdogs. But compared to the candid Omar, Salim is such a slick wolf one might expect he represents the destination of Omar's arc.

Thankfully, just like its portrayal of immigrants, this is not a film that relies on stereotypes and clichés, whether based on races, genders and last but not least: sexual orientations. The second surprise comes with the introduction of a white character, Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis) as an ex-street punk kid who belongs to a sort of fascist group and without any transition whatsoever, when he meets Omar, we see that they have history together, former friends who become lovers (and there's a certain daringness in the way the film features their love, what could be see trendy in the 80s) it's also interesting that Frears who had the material to put the Pakistani people under the radar chooses to have an additional element that would lose their sympathy.

Some might question whether the two couldn't just have been friends but I guess Huneifi wanted to spice up the irony a little by making Salim twice an outcast, in society and in his own community and Johnny through his sexual orientation and because he's working for a Pakistani, which according to his "friends" is the height of submissiveness. It's also a subtle implication that Omar (who might be bisexual) is perhaps the most complete embodiment of the Occidental freedom, as even his liberal uncle wouldn't admit it.

Oddly enough, Frears doesn't embarrass himself with plot points and narrative requirements, he didn't expect such material would attract crowds, he made it like what could have been a wonderful pilot for a soap opera. Still, "My Beautiful Launderette" is the very kind of films that make you question the notion of good or bad, it is original without indulging to fancy shots and it also offers Day-Lewis an interesting role, so opposite to his performance as an uptight Victorian gentleman in "A Room with a View" that it put him right under the radar and the rest was history. Saeed's performance would earn him a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor

Now, there's an interesting leitmotif in the film, which is feet, not the sensual fetishism but the submission symbolism, in less than thirty minutes, we see Salim humiliating Omar by putting his feet on his face, then Salim cutting his father's toenails and later Nasser being massaged by a group of women like a sultan in his harem. It suggests the idea that in this world, we're all under the feet of someone, either it's to establish one's superiority or devotion, and as a cynical existential dilemma, you either put your foot on someone or gets his on your face... these odd interactions elevate the moments of tenderness between the two lovers with two 'opposite' men... on equal footing.

For its time MBL was a break through movie. London is a very complicated place for colonials and for punks. As the friendship between the boys develops- complications arise. What I liked about this film was its unpretentiousness. You can hear and almost smell the various neighborhoods of London. And Daniel Day Lewis certainly showed his potential for the star he would become.