Room to Rent

This film is a good hearted comedy that meets the most important of my criteria for an enjoyable film. You really like the characters and you enjoy spending time with them.

Ali is an Egyptian living in London who has come to the end of his student visa and wants to remain.

His struggle for a means to do that, and the characters we meet along the way provide good light hearted fare in this thoroughly enjoyable, and different film.

I particularly enjoyed Ali's relationship with Mark, the gay photographer. It was refreshing to see a friendship between a gay man and a straightman where one wasn't lusting after the other or vice versa. It was actually a bit funny to see Ali's reactions when he noticed Mark "noticing" other young men. Not so much jealousy as mutual recognition of mens' enjoyment of the "thrill of the hunt".

Also the scene where Mark's father mistakes Ali for Mark's lover, rather than just his room-mate, was sweet and touching. Having Mark's father call his son a good man and asking Ali to take care of him is a nice counterbalance to the furious fathers that we usually see.

Overall a truly enjoyable little movie.