"Survival of the Fittest" 

Dirty Pretty Things
directed by Stephen Frears
written by Steve Knight
starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi Lopez, Benedict Wong, Sophie Okonedo

28 Days Later
directed by Danny Boyle
written by Alex Garland
starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns


              It is possible that Stephen Frears doesn't like the English.  I first became familiar with him through his very Irish Roddy Doyle adaptations (The Snapper and The Van) and then grew bitter at his Americanized film of Nick Hornsby's High Fidelity.  Now, his new film Dirty Pretty Things is actually set in London yet barely features English characters. 
              The film takes place amidst a London most people ignore despite its certain visibility.  "We are the ones who drive your cabs and clean your rooms and suck your cocks," adverts Okwe (Ejiofor), an illegal immigrant who works two full-time jobs, cab driver by day and hotel desk clerk by night.  It is a mystery why he has left his Nigerian homeland as he had there been a doctor and now offers his medical expertise for charitable purposes within the migrant underground.  He rents the couch of Senay (Tautou) another alien, she from Turkey, who works at the hotel as a maid, the two passing one key back and forth, residing in her apartment in separate shifts.  The rest of the cast is filled out like a delegatory stage play with a Russian doorman named Ivan (Zlatko Buric), Spanish hotel manager Sneaky Juan (Lopez), Chinese pathologist Guo (Wong) and Cockney prostitute Juliette (Okonedo).  The cinematography by Chris Menges compliments this diversity with a broad pallette of bright color. 
               An excessive plot begins when the saintly Okwe finds a human heart in a toilet which reveals to him a black market organ trade going on beneath his nose.  On top of that, Senay quits her job and vacates her apartment after being investigated by a pair of goof-ball Immigration officers.  Everything comes down to a contrived yet entertaining climax involving all the minority characters.  
               If you dismiss the main storylines of the film, Dirty Pretty Things is a decent examination of human behavior.  At one point, after Okwe finds out Senay is enamored with him, he tells her that in their lives, there is no time for love, only for survival.  He is otherwise almost too good-natured, like a foreign Atticus Finch, perfectly moral and altogether perceptive.  When you find out the true reasons he has abandoned his prestigious life in Africa, its nearly too much. 
              Ejiofor plays the character with an honesty that gives his existence believability and his choices involvement, though.  Watching him merits the film's story, though the picture could have fared well entirely on his relationships with the other characters, particularly Guo whose connection is never explained more than convenience to the script, yet is of interest because of the wisdom and cleverness exerted in his dialogue.  Audrey Tautou, speaking with a Turkish accent,  is ever charming and shows much acting talent lately, though she performs with a disappointing amount of emptiness here, as if working so hard on the pronunciations of her lines that she forgets to put her soul into the work. 
                While Frears still sees no problem with directing inflated roles and situations, a problem more apparent in High Fidelity, there is nothing too outrageous in the movie to get so distracted by, despite a few bloated performances (Buric might make a good Kolekhov in a production of You Can't Take It With You, however).
           The film is not without its entertainment value during its course.  Like most of Frears' films, it only seems bad when thinking about it afterwards.  Yet Dirty Pretty Things has much to recommend it.  The film questions the natures of survival most of us take for granted and makes one wonder what they would do just to get by. 


            Danny Boyle is another director who returns to England with his new film, 28 Days Later.  Instead of asking us to wonder what we would do to survive, it shows us what we must. 
            Jim (Murphy) wakes up from a coma 28 days after a biological disaster hits England.  He walks through empty London streets what may be the most hauntingly beautiful digital videography ever seen before meeting up with other survivors, including Selena (Harris), who fill him in on the apocalyptic tragedy which has killed off most of their country's citizens with a rabidly violent infection.  Some people are still suffering from the malady, and it is them who Jim and Selena must flee from throughout the story until joining a Frank (Gleeson) and his daughter Hannah (Burns), who have heard about a military asylum up north.
              Their haven is not without difficulty anymore than is their venture.  Once clear of the afflicted, Jim and the rest must deal with their host of men led by Major West (Eccleston), an ideological enemy who has promised his troops women with which to repopulate the world. 
                Compared with zombie and monster movies, 28 Days Later plays much more fittingly as a science fiction masterpiece which puts into perspective the differences between humans and animals, emotion and instinct.  While thrilling at times, it is no more a horror film than Frankenstein and the confusion of its marketing is disappointing.  The picture is a more credible cross between 12 Monkeys and Reign of Fire. 
With his return to a dark, psychological setting and story, Boyle has made his best film since the underrated gem Shallow Grave.  It is a shame that many people might be turned off by what is expected, as 28 Days Later is one of the most intelligent and stunning pictures to come out this year.