FROM FRIDAY, AUGUST 1ST

The film that jumpstarted the careers of both director Stephen Frears and star Daniel Day-Lewis, My Beautiful Laundrette, originally intended for television, only saw cinemas because of the rapturous acclaim it received when premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Subversive and progressive, Hanif Kureishi’s script is set in Thatcherite London of the mid-1980s, where Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a closeted Pakistani, hopes to escape his bitter, defeated father (Roshan Seth) with the help of his entrepreneur uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey). Following a racist attack led by former acquaintance Johnny (Day-Lewis), Omar enlists Johnny to help him renovate and make a success of Nasser’s run-down laundrette. The two begin a love affair, but face pressures from their respective communities to return to the fold and conform to expectations. Frears’s film still seems bold and brave, while Day-Lewis’s astonishing talent shines through.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 16.00 on Tuesday 5th, and 20.30 on Wednesday 6th.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.