22 FILM
THE GUESTLIST NETWORK | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2011 NEWRELEASES
BRIGHTON ROCK
Cloaked in fog and drenched by rain on a fateful night in coastal Brighton, 1964, debut director Rowan Joffe’s remake of the revered British classic “Brighton Rock” sets a dark, gloomy and oppressive mood from the word go which never lets up. Unfortunately, that noirish swagger never goes anywhere and aside from a few respect- able performances, memorable cinematography and some fun coastal-heyday production design, there’s precious little for audiences to connect with and the project goes almost completely cold.
The film’s saving grace comes in the form of Andrea Riseborough’s outstanding performance as mousey, neglected tea room waitress, Rose. After the murder of a rival gang member by local hoodlum, Pinkie (Sam Riley, “Control”), Rose unwittingly becomes the only person able to put the killer and his cohorts behind bars. Instead of simply offing the witness as his fellow hoods suggest, Pinkie offers up another plan.
While his solution might seem unorthodox to modern audiences, it’s certainly understandable under the laws of the time (no wife could testify against her husband in a court of law), he rather perfunctorily woos and marries his smitten, weirdly unquestioning security blanket.
Rose’s unsettling dedication to her husband/ captor is easily “Brighton Rock’s” most interest- ing element, asking provocative questions about blind faith and the darker aspects of woman- hood in Britain’s recent past. And for a young tough like Pinkie, the central relationship also provides a somewhat interesting thread as Joffe teases the possibility of his own growing affec- tion for Rose, closing the story on a simultane- ously disturbing and upbeat note that, in its own way, offers hope without decisively answering the question.
While Joffe’s ambition is worth applauding and he appears to have a promising future ahead of
The remake takes a turn from Boulting’s 1847 classic. Following the story of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager obsessed with a religious death wish.
him following “Brighton Rock” and his screen- play for the lauded Ian Curtis biopic “Control,” he appears to have bitten off more than he could chew with this project. He’s updated the setting from the 1930s to the 1960s (trading the WWII backdrop for the roiling discontent of angry young mods and rocker youths), imbued the proceedings with a beautifully constructed sense of imminent tragedy, and altered the film’s finale, but these and other changes all too frequently have the air of rearranged furniture and window dressing. Yes, it’s different from the original, but it’s unclear whether Joffe had a larger design in mind and the film’s best ele- ments seem more like happy accidents.
So, like a piece of Brighton rock, frustration and boredom eventually set in and you’d be forgiven for giving up and moving on to something you can really sink your gnashers into.
3 stars out of 5
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