Drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke. After his shady uncle makes him manager of a neglected London launderette, Omar, an eager Asian youth, seeks the help of his old school friend Johnny who has links with a racist gang. Against a background of racial tension in the area, Omar and Johnny set about giving their new business a facelift.
This seminal 1980s movie launched a plethora of now distinguished careers, including those of director Stephen Frears and Daniel Day-Lewis. The latter shines in his first major role as the scabrous punk and friend to Gordon Warnecke's entrepreneurial Asian, who dreams of creating the most glittering launderette in London. This marvellously played movie's undoubted importance lies in the way it takes the key characteristics of the Thatcherite decade - grafting in the free market, the desire for material acquisitions, the establishment of stability - and turns everything on its head with a merciful lack of polemic.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Johnny | Daniel Day-Lewis |
| Omar | Gordon Warnecke |
| Nasser | Saeed Jaffrey |
| Papa | Roshan Seth |
| Salim | Derrick Branche |
| Rachel | Shirley Anne Field |
| Tania | Rita Wolf |
| Cherry | Souad Faress |
| Ghengis | Richard Graham (2) |
| Jamaican | Winston Graham (2) |
| Jamaican | Dudley Thomas |
| Squatter | Garry Cooper |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Stephen Frears |
