Gritty, challenging, raw.

This was such a compelling movie with great acting and storyline. Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent as usual and I was impressed with Audrey Tautou as well. It's worth the watch.

Well structured and performed, one of the better movies dealing with the subject of organ harvesting. Was expecting more of the organs being harvested than relationship drama though.

There's artistry here - from director's Stephen Frears perfectly placed camera setups to the delicate and insightful performances of the film's two leads, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tautou - but, in the end I was left feeling unfulfilled by the love story in the middle of a body parts trade-industry crime story.

Properly unsettling but not really engaging,

Trading body parts for passports. What more can be said. Well acted, good idea and plot.

I have never in my entire life felt the need to review a movie, especially not a movie nearly 2 decades old, BUT this movie may have been the worst hour and a half of my life it made absolutely zero sense. Just a total waste of time. I literally made a rotten tomato and verified my email and all that shit just to say how dogshit this movie was.

Even though its title suggests some kind of B exploitation movie, filmmaker Steven Frears' Dirty Pretty Things (2002) is a quiet movie that's humane, intriguing, and even sentimental. The story is about illegals in London who work cash jobs and spend half their time hiding from the immigration cops. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Okwe, a doctor from Nigeria who was deported. His back story is sketchy, but we can tell that he's a caring man with a conscience. He gets antibiotics for ailing people from his Asian friend Guo (Benedict Wong), who works at the local medical examiner's office. He drives a mini cab during the day and works as a porter at the Baltic Hotel at night. He sleeps little and chews herbs to stay awake. He rents a couch in the flat of Senay (Audrey Tautou), an illegal who works as a maid at the hotel. Responding to a complaint about a clogged toilet in one of the hotel rooms, he discovers to his horror that the clog was caused by a human heart. The heart is from someone who died because the smarmy hotel manager Sneaky (Sergio Lopez) has been crudely removing kidneys from illegals and selling them. He gets $10,000 per organ, and the illegals get fake passports so they can stay in London. When Sneaky finds out that Okwe is a doctor, he invites him to do the surgeries, offering him money and a passport. But Okwe, a man of principal, refuses. It all sounds rather grim, and the underworld of London is portrayed realistically and unflinchingly, but Frears knew better than to make this a horror movie or even a thriller. Not that it's short on thrills and suspense, but its focus is on rich and nuanced characters who captivate us. This movie proves the axiom that people we care about are the nexus of a good story. You will keep your eyes glued to the screen as you follow Okwe and Senay through their lives and their troubles. Both Ejiofor and Tautou turn in heartfelt performances, and the supporting cast members are strong and believable. This film has one of the most clever and righteous final acts I have ever witnessed. What a payoff! And no spoilers, but the ending is a happy one that may elicit a few tears from viewers. Highly recommended, one of the best films of the year.

Steven Knight takes a hum drum best-selling novel and injects his signature flavor of storytelling; one that's often gritty, chaotic, enthralling, and (much like the real world) life can be relentlessly brutal no matter how pure your intentions are or how innocent you truly are from any wrongdoing in the eyes of the law…because no matter what you do in life, you've stepping on someone else's head just to get by even if you've got a minimum wage job at a small business, you're still the one with that job while the other denizens who might've also applied are still searching for ANYTHING just to get by this month's rent, or this week's modest groceries…maybe to just through the remaining hours of the day so that they can go to sleep on a half-full stomach. Knight effortlessly turns a by-the-numbers fish out of water (with a dubious past) story, and inks every single one of his characters as human beings bursting with charisma & charm while also keeping them grounded in reality by surrounding the two leads with the sort of people you don't just consider believable, you've no doubt crossed paths with such sketchy slumlords at least once or twice and recall how they always seemed to have an extra layer of depravity when you thought you'd discovered their actual nature. The truth is you only saw a glimpse. A PG rated half-truth that omitted the unrated remainder of someone's far more horrifying shadow-self.

I cannot believe that I have went this long without watching this movie. What a great movie, the story of the immagrant trying to survive. This is a powerful and gritty movie. It allows you to see the struggle that some go through for freedom. So pop some popcorn and put your feet up and enjoy!

I would give it 4.4 out of 5, but i still gave it 5 because it really is well-made and worth more than 4 to me. Excellent acting and a very good film, all-around. I don't want to tell you anything about it, and you shouldn't watch the trailer. No violence or explicit material, but still a little heavy. Touching, too. Lots of emotions in here.

Despite the fact that the subject is undoubtedly interesting, Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things often comes across as either didactic and/or implausible, both of which negatively impact on the message being imparted. Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an illegal immigrant living in London, trying to survive in the shadows of society and relying on the kindness of asylum seeker Senay (Audrey Tautou) to survive, when he stumbles across a human transplant ring. Unfortunately, despite the fascinating premise, the film falters on several occasions as the boundaries of credibility are crossed. Why does Okwe not make an anonymous call to the police when he discovers the criminal activity? Is it that easy to steal medicine from a hospital pharmacy? Are the criminals so careless that they would leave a human heart in a clogged toilet? It's not a bad movie, but one has to suspend disbelief to enjoy it.

Credible drama thriller about illegal immigration, helping each other out, but the extra complications it can lead to if someone discovers your actual identity. Brilliantly composed with very good actors. Perhaps a bit too animated at times, since it's definitely not a comedy.

Really hard, well made, but awful to know that things like this happen.

Gritty subject dealt with sympathetically in East End London, but sometimes treading rather unrealistically when set against the backdrop of a seemingly smart London hotel.

Such an amazing film. Makes you feel their despair, pain, love. I can't bi eve it took me this long to watch it. Glad I came across it

"Dirty Pretty Things" is sometimes sold also as a thriller film, actually it is an impressive drama, well written and directed. The story is about an irregular immigrant doctor from Nigeria who lives in London and leads a double life: during the day he is a driver while by night he works in the front desk of a hotel, managed by a slimy Spanish man. One night he discovers a human heart stuck in the toilet in a room of the hotel. Since that moment he is obsessed with that discovery and tries to understand why the heart was there. The film shows what poor people face to live a respectable life, especially in a big city like London, how they agree to a compromise to be happy. Without any doubt, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great actor, his gaze is pained and plays extraordinarily his role, perfectly identified in the character's suffering. Sergi Lopez also deserves a mention, creepy and slimy. In the cast there are also Audrey Tautou as a Turkish immigrant who illegally works in the hotel as maid and Sophie Okonedo who is a prostitute.

*tries to climb through a window and escape so I don't have to do this review.* Ugh. It's hard giving a movie a bad review. Especially when said movie contains a gallery of individuals that you unconditionally respect. Stephen Frears, Steven Knight, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou - all are filmmakers, artists, and performers that I have incredible admiration for. But, the simple fact remains; I just couldn't get into "Dirty Pretty Things." It might've been the disjointed pacing, the generally ugly atmosphere and tone, the occasional stilted performance (Sorry, Audrey), or maybe a combination of all three. But it still just felt like there was some critical, interesting element missing from this film. Maybe it's just because I'm not British.

The cast was very good, at least the director and the two main actors, so the premises could be good. Without being gruesome it manages to be intriguing and keeping the attention high for all the lasting of the movie. Very good thriller.

"Dirty Pretty Things" is a well-acted film with a very odd plot. This bizarre story of love, illegal immigrants, and organ harvesting will keep you curious from start to finish. You really never know what might happen next in this one. The driving force behind this entire plot is Chiwetel Ejiofor in the lead role. This is the performance that brought him into the spotlight and he has continued to grow since this performance at the age of 25. He is complimented by Audrey Tautou, fresh off of her success in the critically-acclaimed "Amélie." Their meager love story is completely unmemorable, but I believe this to be the director's intention in order to keep the film's focus on the exploitation of immigrants. The entire film has a deliberately disjointed feel through its odd musical score, rapid cuts from shot to shot, and frequent moments without dialogue. The end effect is an edginess that makes the entire film feel slightly uncomfortable. The disjointedness results in a film that isn't really that "fun" to watch but it leaves an impression. "Dirty Pretty Things" is a unique film that delivers a disturbing story with an unexpectedly satisfying resolution.