Director: Jonathan Glazer
Screenplay: Louis Mellis and David Scinto
Starring: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Álvaro Monje, James Fox
Running Time: 88 minutes
Genre: Crime
Gal Dove (Winstone) is a retired British criminal who is now living happily in Spain with his wife DeeDee (Redman). Gal and DeeDee's peaceful life is interrupted by the arrival of brutal gangster Don Logan (Kingsley) who wants Gal to take part in a bank robbery in London. Gal wants no part in it, but Logan refuses to take no for an answer.
This film, which marks the feature debut from director Jonathan Glazer, has a fairly straightforward plot, but is elevated by a razor sharp and witty script with great performances, particularly from Ben Kingsley who is terrifying as the unpredictable sociopath Don Logan. Ray Winstone provides the film's dramatic heft as the ex-crook who just wants to be left in peace, and Ian McShane is striking as the urbane, dead-eyed crime boss who is arranging the heist. No one else in the film really gets much room to make an impression. These three guys get the lion's share of the screen time and dialogue. Contrasting the gorgeous, sun-drenched Spanish landscapes with the grey, dull, urbanity of London, the film is visually impressive, although the occasional surreal fantasy sequences are distracting and out of place. Much of the tension in the film is from the verbal sparring between Logan and Gal, the threat of violence rather than the actual act, although the film does culminate in some shocking violence.
While this may not be the best British gangster film ever made, it is certainly above average.
No comments:
Post a Comment