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Brighton Rock
| Released |
4 February 2011 |
| Director |
Rowan Joffé |
Starring
|
Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, Phil Davis, John Hurt, Andy Serkis, Nonso Anozie |
| Writer(s) |
Rowan Joffé |
| Producer(s) |
Paul Webster |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
111 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Rating |
16 |
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Vicious villains.
Brighton Rock, the 1938 novel by Graham Greene was first turned into a film in 1947 by John Boulting. That film featured Richard Attenborough, now renowned as an Oscar-winning director and perhaps even more so for being the luvvie-ist man in the word. And yet he was utterly convincing as Pinkie, who was a real nasty piece of work, a psychopath with a slashed face and a predilection for cruel violence. That film was set in the forties, but in this remake from Rowan Joffé, the action is moved forward to the sixties, with a backdrop of the Mods and Rockers riots that scarred the town in that era.
Sam Riley, who made his breakthrough playing Ian Curtis in Control, plays Pinkie with a permanent sneer on his face. After the boss of his gang is accidentally murdered by the rival Colleoni mob (led by Andy Serkis), Pinkie takes it on himself to exact revenge. He kills the assassin Fred, played by Sean Harris, who films buffs will know is the other man to play Ian Curtis onscreen in 24 Hour Party People.
Rose, a dowdy young waitress (Andrea Riseborough), has witnessed the start of the confrontation and though she didn’t see Pinkie, she can identify another of the gang Spicer (Phil Davis). Pinkie is sent after her to make sure she doesn’t talk to the police and a relationship develops between them. The gang begins to fall apart under pressure and matters are not helped by Rose’s boss Ida (Helen Mirren) taking an interest in the murder. Fred was a friend of hers and though she is warned off by her bookie friend (John Hurt) she starts to pursue Pinkie and is concerned for Rose’s future with him.
Joffé, who is the son of veteran director Roland Joffé, has made his name writing screenplays like 28 Weeks Later and The American. Though he’s directed for TV before, this is his first cinema feature but he rises to the challenge. He’s made a film that’s contemporary enough to appeal to modern audiences while also keeping the old-fashioned core values of the story.
Riley plays Pinkie as a stoney psycho with no redeeming features. Some may find his performance a little one-note, but that’s how the character is in the book and any attempt to modernise him by giving him more depth or background would feel like pandering to modern tastes. Riseborough is superb as the tragic Rose, even though at twenty-nine she’s a little old to be playing an underage teen girl. However, Riseborough, who before now has made her name on the stage and in TV roles, brings real vulnerability to the part and shows she has the chops to be a serious contender on the big screen. Helen Mirren is on great “sexy old crumpet” form as the brassy café owner but John Hurt and especially Andy Serkis are wasted in fairly minor roles.
The decision to move the period to the '60s isn’t such a success and it seems to only have been made so that they can insert a minor remake of Quadrophenia in the middle of the film. The scene where Pinkie adopts the mod uniform of sharp suit and parka and rides around on a Moped with Phil Davis on the back is too much of a wink at the audience (especially as Davis was in the original film!) Happily though, this doesn’t distract from the action for too long and the film builds the tension nicely to its denouement.
Overall this is a classy piece of British cinema and marks Rowan Joffé as someone to watch out for in future.
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Jim O’Connor |
