OxfordPress.com

Okwe (a commanding and heroic Chiwetel Ejiofor) was a surgeon in his native Nigeria. Now he works two jobs: a taxi driver by day, a desk clerk at the Baltic Hotel by night. His "home" is a rented couch in a tiny room belonging to another illegal, a young Turkish woman named Senay (Audrey Tautou, good, but unable to shake her Euro-waif image).

Like all illegals, they live in constant fear of the immigration service. They must not protest or make any trouble, no matter how unfairly they're treated.

The movie takes a bizarre, Michael Crichton-ish turn when Okwe is summoned to fix a toilet in one of the rooms. The obstruction is a shocker -- a human heart. Sneaky (Sergi Lopez), the aptly named and thoroughly nasty hotel manager, is a little too unfazed by a body organ in his plumbing, so Okwe turns amateur sleuth, trying to figure out what Sneaky is up to. Anyone who's ever seen the midnight cult classic "Blood Salvage" (filmed in Georgia) might already have an idea.

At its best, the movie may remind you of a Hitchcock thriller filtered through the social consciousness of Ken Loach. However, before his better-known films like "The Grifters" and "High Fidelity," Frears made his share of underclass-themed movies, too, including "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "Sammie and Rosie Get Laid."

Frears sketches these lower depths with telling detail. For instance, we learn Okwe's cab license is both illegal and shared when he hands it over to the next driver, reminding him, "Remember, your name is Mohammed."

Okwe can't catch a break no matter what he does. His decency means nothing in a system that itself means nothing. A little less saintliness and a little more complexity would've deepened the character. But then again, the script is a first-time effort by Stephen Knight, creator of the original "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (hmmm, that may explain why Senay so desperately needs a lifeline). Still, the thriller elements keep the movie rolling; game-show people tend to know a lot about pace.

Sneaky explains the title in one of his few non-lies: "The hotel business is about strangers. They come in the night to do dirty things. In the morning, it's our job to make them pretty again."

But as this movie shows, not everything can be prettied up as easily as a hotel room. "Dirty Pretty Things" is about the things -- and the people -- lurking under the radar. Half love story, half horror story, it's like an urban legend with a conscience.