Room to Rent (2000)
Director: Khalid El Hagar
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Unworldly, experience-hungry and penniless, Ali (Taghmaoui), a would-be writer, is let loose among the fleshpots and bizarre denizens of the emphatically evoked 'Arab quarter' of Edgware Road. It's not a world average Londoners would instantly recognise, meaning they have to view Ali's haunts, abodes and contacts from his perspective. The sexual gusto displayed by wealthy middle-aged French 'lover' Vivienne, the Monroe obsession of his friend Lina (Lewis), the streetwise cynicism of his pal Ahmed, who tries to fix him a fake bride for visa purposes, and the ridiculous formality of the traditional dress he's required to wear as a nightclub waiter are merely amusing examples of the mad, eccentric world that is London. If the oversimplified characters can be put down to directorial inexperience, less forgivable is the unrelenting tone of forced optimism and the seeming acceptance of Ali's degree of self-delusion.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Khalid El Hagar
Producer: Ildikó Kemény
Cast: Saïd Taghmaoui, Juliette Lewis, Rupert Graves, Anna Massey, Karim Belkhadra, Richard Lumsden, Clémentine Célarié, FlaminiaCinque full cast
Duration: 95 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
A Bond a day: No.12 'For Your Eyes Only'
Time Out revisits the 21 Bond movies day by day to celebrate the release of 'Quantum of Solace'
The essential guide to the London Film Festival
Get the inside track on the all the films and events you'll want to catch at the Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival
Terence Davies: interview
Wally Hammond talks to visionary British director Terence Davies about his deeply personal and long-awaited new documentary ‘Of Time and the City’
W.
Read our early review of Oliver Stone's George W Bush biopic, 'W.', playing at this year's London Film Festival
Ten friendly ghost movies
To celebrate the release of 'Ghost Town' in which Ricky Gervais plays a New York dentist who can see dead people, Time Out counts down ten great friendly ghost movies.







What do you think?
Post your review now