Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2010
Brighton Rock (2010 film)
Buy Brighton Rock (2010 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Brighton Rock' is a 2010 British crime film written and directed by Rowan Joff and loosely based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Serkis, John Hurt, Sean Harris and Helen Mirren.
The novel had previously been made into a film under the same title by the Boulting brothers that premiered in 1948. Although the novel and original film are both set in the 1930s, the 21st century adaptation is set during the Mods and Rockers era of the 1960s.
Sam Riley plays "Pinkie", the role originally played by Richard Attenborough. Filming began in October 2009. It was largely filmed in the nearby town of Eastbourne, with Eastbourne Pier standing in for Brighton Pier, and at Beachy Head. Some scenes were shot at Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire and in Brighton itself.
Plot
In 1964, Pinkie Brown, the sociopathic enforcer of a Brighton gang, murders Fred Hale, who had killed the gang leader Kite. Brown befriends Rose, a young waitress who witnessed the gang's activity, to keep an eye on her. She falls in love with him. To prevent her from being compelled to give evidence against him, he marries her. Ida, Rose's employer and a friend of Hale's, takes it upon herself to save the girl from the monster she has married.
Cast
* Sam Riley as Pinkie Brown
* Andrea Riseborough as Rose
* Andy Serkis as Mr Colleoni
* John Hurt as Phil Corkery
* Helen Mirren as Ida
* Sean Harris as Hale
* Phil Davis as Spicer
* Nonso Anozie as Dallow
* Craig Parkinson as Cubitt
* Steve Evets as Mr Wilson
* Maurice Roves as Chief Inspector
Production
Rowan Joff was originally uninterested in the project, which as first proposed was to be a remake of the film. After re-reading the novel, however, Joff "fell absolutely in love with the character of Rose" and convinced the studio to let him adapt the novel directly. Joffe later explained why he did his own adaptation of the novel:
Apropos to the location, Pinkie kills Spicer by shoving a stick of Brighton rock candy down his throat.
Release
'Brighton Rock' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010 and the BFI London Film Festival in October 2010.
The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2011, and in Australia on 14 April 2011. In the United States, IFC Films released the film in August 2011, theatrically in New York City and Los Angeles, and elsewhere via video-on-demand.
Reception
'Brighton Rock' received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that of critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads: "'Brighton Rock' is a lean noir boasting an appealing trio of stars, but its old-fashioned presentation only reinforces how little it distinguishes itself from the superior original." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1 to 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a 57 based on 24 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews." According to Stephen Holden, "Mr. Joff has turned 'Brighton Rock' into a full-scale film noir with the stylistic undertow of a more modern British gangster movie. As potentially lethal as the thugs may be, they are also slightly over-the-hill small-time bookies who seem anything but invincible, and the movie gives each a complicated personality. Andy Serkis is outstanding as the oily Colleoni, a smirking sybarite and crime lord with playboy airs." Holden notes "Mr. Riley, now 31, is a little too old to play a teenage gangster, and it throws the movie off somewhat. If Pinkie's recklessly impulsive behavior is that of a frightened teenager, Mr. Riley's slick hair, facial scar and cold, wide-eyed stare suggest a seasoned smoothie who has watched a lot more dirty water slosh under the bridge than any teenager could have witnessed." Nevertheless, Holden concludes "By discarding most of the theological debate [found in the book], the movie is no longer a passion play but a gritty and despairing noir. Thats good enough for me."
References
Buy Brighton Rock (2010 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2010