Launderettes are as British as Eastenders, bless 'em. And Hanif
Kureishi's take on them (misspelling aside) is as exhilirating now as
it was under Mrs Thatcher. Two schoolfriends, a Pakistani with an
ailing father, and a National Front hardboy with nothing and no-one,
fall in love. They live in a world of drug dealers, cocktail bars,
mistresses, landlords, launderettes and trouble. The raw energy of
the two young leads is offset by Kureishi's ear for dialogue and the
castigating eye he casts over his own community. A British Asian gay
film. Could never happen under Tony Blair.
