Description:

 Crowded apartment, seems as if people are breaking in

 Two men have to move out of the apartment, a team of evictors or robbers looks to be
kicking them out
 Old man on the phone while his son Omar cooks
 “25 pounds a week”
 Salim: Car care specialist
 Omar listens on a sex scene with Rachel, and his uncle Nasser
 Nasser wants to help Omar achieve a better life
 Omar locks up the car park for the night, Nasser gives him a white car
 Rachel kisses Omar before she leaves
 Salim’s wife questions Omar’s character
 Omar sees Nasser’s daughter who seems to know him from before
 Nasser’s daughter informs Omar of her knowledge of Nasser’s secret life
 Omar, driving home, stops to see a man he knows from before
 He asks how he is doing, and where he lives currently
 His friend’s face is half shaded when Omar is talking to him
 Friend’s name is Johnny, old friend
 Omar is knelt down in front of his father as he tells him he found Johnny
 Camera cuts to the same room as the opening credits
 Salim turns on Omar, revealing all of his past troubles
 “These people, they’re too tough for you.”
 Recurring bubbling noise in the background of several scenes
 Omar has to go on another errand for Salim, most likely for the drugs he trafficks
 Johnny is working for Omar while Omar tries to work behind Salim’s back for the better
of them both
 Johnny is hired by Omar to take care of the laundromat that Nasser hires Omar to look
after
 Johnny is asked inside so he can meet Nasser and Salim
 Nasser makes a deal with Johnny to evict others out of his properties
 Johnny and Omar kiss in a back alley after their meeting
 Johnny wants to forget his past troubles with Omar’s father
 Nasser gives Johnny a place to live after evicting a former resident, a sign of Johnny
moving up in the world
 The laundromat has been fully refurbished
 Grand opening
 Camera jump cuts from conversations between Tania and Rachel and Nasser and Omar,
with Tania finally coming to terms with her father’s mistress directly
 Conversation between Johnny and Omar’s father about Omar’s future, which Omar’s
father realizes he cannot control, but he wants to
  Omar closes another deal for two laundromats while at a dinner party at Salim’s, while
Johnny sneaks out with Tania
 Omar asks Salim to join him financially in two new laundromats, to be used as a new
place to wash Salim’s money he receives from his drug business
 Salim, Johnny, and Omar go to view a new laundromat, when Salim hits one of Johnny’s
men on the way
 Salim’s car is vandalized by Johnny’s men, and he is beaten, meanwhile Nasser visits
Omar’s father where he convinced Nasser he should move home
 Johnny decides to defend Salim while the laundromat is ruined
 Tania leaves England, while Omar’s father is disappointed as he does not see an adequate
future for his son that meet his standards
Interpretation:
 Film set in England
 Omar’s emotions around Rachel seem rather ecstatic, which is why he dresses up to see
her when he goes to his uncle’s
 Salim’s wife looks down upon Omar since he was raised outside of Karachi, and her
mentioning of “in-betweens” targets the fact that Omar calls his home England
 As she flashes Omar, she wears a white shirt, which juxtaposes the stereotypical purity
associated with the color white
 The half-shaded face may indicate that Omar’s friend has gone through a recent change,
or is different than before, which is why he comes off so cold to Omar
 Omar’s father claims that Johnny was not a good enough friend toward Omar, but Omar
refuses to realize this, hence the difference in heights (difference in wisdom and power)
 As Salim turns on Omar, his wife walks into the room unsurprised, assuming she is the
reason behind Salim’s change in behavior after disapproving of Omar
 Omar seems to be unable to handle clipping his father’s friends, never mind the people he
tries to work for, which is shown as he struggles to help his father
 Omar asks Salim for 50 quid to run his errand, trying to prove his worth that nobody
thinks he has
 Johnny and Omar’s kiss resembles a full reconnection between the two, after seeming
cold and disconnected earlier, they now work together, facilitate business meetings, and
catch up on their pasts in order for a new successful future
 Johnny wishes to forget about the past because he now realizes his wrongdoing, and
never appreciated Omar’s father’s help when he was younger
 With Omar and Johnny fully refurbishing the laundromat, it resembles how far they have
come since the beginning of the film, Omar was jobless taking after his father with
Johnny homeless, but now they have full time jobs, super new and fancy clothes, and
places to live
 “We’re nothing in England without money” shows how the characters center themselves
around greed and money, especially Salim and Nasser who put Omar in charge of their
business ventures, and their demeanor influences Omar to be the same
  When Salim hits one of Johnny’s men on the road, a break of trust has begun, and Johnny
expresses this by refusing to view the new laundromats as long as Salim is there
 Johnny is trying to save Salim because he realizes he has the best of both worlds, as he
wants to maintain close ties with his gang friends but also have a well-paying job and an
apartment
Evaluation:
 The film does a decent job of plot development in terms of Omar and Johnny moving up
in the world, whether its their relationship being repaired, their change in wardrobe, or
the refurbishing of the laundromat
 It’s interesting to see how Omar mirrors Salim and Nasser’s behavior toward the end of
the film, which can be seen when Omar orders Johnny to do his job, agrees to build
another two laundromats, or when he mentions money and greed multiple times
 Many women in the film have important roles but are not seen on screen for very long,
including Salim’s wife who disapproves of Omar and makes him prove himself, Tania
who confronts Rachel about her father’s mistress and how it impacts her, and Rachel who
ultimately effects Nasser’s well-being
 I find it confusing how Omar’s father hates the fact that Omar is working in his family’s
laundromat, yet puts his trust in Nasser at the end of the film that he will persuade him to
enter college and start reading there, even though Nasser convinced Omar to work for
him in the first place
 A lot of things are left unknown, does the laundromat get rebuilt? What does Nasser
decide to do regarding moving away? Is Salim going to be fine?