Sexy Beast (2001)
The 'caper' is a classic, surefire formula even when it might simply rethread elements we have already seen as early as Rififi (1955) but, what about capers where the caper is the least important aspect of it? Even if it introduces a particular gimmick we haven't seen before it still feels like an afterthought.
In this case, we have an Brit expatriate living a peaceful, post-crime life in sunny Spain who spends his life drinking beer with his wife and a couple of friends when a boulder comes crashing from the hillside into his pool, nearly killing him.
Is this foreshadowing, you ask?
You bet!
As violent as the intruding monolith that cracks the concrete at the bottom of the pool it cannot match the bad news coming his way, his old partners-in-crime want him to come from out of retirement for another job.
That's not the bad part, the bad part is he does not have the option to refuse. Worse is the unwanted intruder who won't take no for an answer and spends more than half of the feature coaxing, cajoling, and bullying him into finally accepting, (except he always refuses!)
As weird as it may sound, this is the fun part and the meat of the story... Didn't Polanski pull it off once, (albeit towards entirely dissimilar ends and with a different sensibility)?
What's odd this time is that the film gets us firmly on the side of the ex-criminal, even despite our protests... Isn't this guy as bad as his bully?
Well, we don't really know; for all we know his love for his wife and the obvious esteem he holds for his youthful pool boy might have had a redeeming effect on him.
All we truly know is that he's done with his criminal past and wants out.
Ben Kingsley is amazing as the bullying, malevolent force of nature, his slight physique making not a bit of difference when he faces victims much larger than him, and clearly intimidating figures on their own.
The film features some fantastic imagery, (the boulder itself and its unrealistic physics; a smoke ring shaped like a heart; a vision of the couple floating above the lights of the city, etc.) and the surreal/dream image of a furry, goat-demon slightly reminiscent of Donny Darko's bizarro rabbit but, from a conceptual standpoint, probably closer to Raising Arizona's biker from Hell (Randall "Tex" Cobb).
Funny, violent, and thoroughly entertaining.
With Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Álvaro Monje, and James Fox.
Check it out.
The 'caper' is a classic, surefire formula even when it might simply rethread elements we have already seen as early as Rififi (1955) but, what about capers where the caper is the least important aspect of it? Even if it introduces a particular gimmick we haven't seen before it still feels like an afterthought.
In this case, we have an Brit expatriate living a peaceful, post-crime life in sunny Spain who spends his life drinking beer with his wife and a couple of friends when a boulder comes crashing from the hillside into his pool, nearly killing him.
Is this foreshadowing, you ask?
You bet!
As violent as the intruding monolith that cracks the concrete at the bottom of the pool it cannot match the bad news coming his way, his old partners-in-crime want him to come from out of retirement for another job.
That's not the bad part, the bad part is he does not have the option to refuse. Worse is the unwanted intruder who won't take no for an answer and spends more than half of the feature coaxing, cajoling, and bullying him into finally accepting, (except he always refuses!)
As weird as it may sound, this is the fun part and the meat of the story... Didn't Polanski pull it off once, (albeit towards entirely dissimilar ends and with a different sensibility)?
What's odd this time is that the film gets us firmly on the side of the ex-criminal, even despite our protests... Isn't this guy as bad as his bully?
Well, we don't really know; for all we know his love for his wife and the obvious esteem he holds for his youthful pool boy might have had a redeeming effect on him.
All we truly know is that he's done with his criminal past and wants out.
Ben Kingsley is amazing as the bullying, malevolent force of nature, his slight physique making not a bit of difference when he faces victims much larger than him, and clearly intimidating figures on their own.
The film features some fantastic imagery, (the boulder itself and its unrealistic physics; a smoke ring shaped like a heart; a vision of the couple floating above the lights of the city, etc.) and the surreal/dream image of a furry, goat-demon slightly reminiscent of Donny Darko's bizarro rabbit but, from a conceptual standpoint, probably closer to Raising Arizona's biker from Hell (Randall "Tex" Cobb).
Funny, violent, and thoroughly entertaining.
With Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Álvaro Monje, and James Fox.
Check it out.
statistics: Posted by hermanthegerm — 6:56 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 1 — Views 235