Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Dirty Pretty Things & Bend it Like Beckham v. Hollywood-as-usual
I saw Dirty Pretty Things the other evening. It was a well done, well acted movie about immigrants holding on by their fingernails to the underbelly of the Western urban economy. It told a story of an African man (a doctor working as a hotel clerk) and a Muslim woman (sewing in a sweatshop) making their way in a London that white people don't see. It is not a romance -- that would be disloyal (for him) and violate culture (for her). After watching Dirty Pretty Things, I can't say hello to the dark-skinned checkout woman at the supermarket, or order from the obsequious south-Asian-looking waiter at the local restaurant without wondering for a moment about the life they left behind or the life they're living today.
Dirty Pretty Things shows a darker side of immigrant life than Bend it Like Beckham. Bend it is a feel-good movie about a girl growing up in a Sikh household in London who has a passion and talent for football (soccer), but whose parents don't understand because they're "old country."
I'd recommend both movies ahead of, say, Pirates SWAT the Terminator XVI.
How many special effects do we need to make a good story good? Usually not as many as there are in the movie. In other words, most Hollywood movies overshoot the needs of their audience (to use Clayton Christensen's terminology). In contrast, Dirty Pretty Things and Bend it Like Beckham do more with less.
Dirty Pretty Things shows a darker side of immigrant life than Bend it Like Beckham. Bend it is a feel-good movie about a girl growing up in a Sikh household in London who has a passion and talent for football (soccer), but whose parents don't understand because they're "old country."
I'd recommend both movies ahead of, say, Pirates SWAT the Terminator XVI.
How many special effects do we need to make a good story good? Usually not as many as there are in the movie. In other words, most Hollywood movies overshoot the needs of their audience (to use Clayton Christensen's terminology). In contrast, Dirty Pretty Things and Bend it Like Beckham do more with less.
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