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Winter trips to the seaside are often ill-advised. Whilst the same cannot necessarily be said of a trip to see Brighton Rock this award season, it’s hard to see it faring well against the wave of Oscar nominees currently available to cinema goers.
The film charts the rise of Pinkie (Sam Riley), a knife-wielding, power-hungry mobster who wrestles for power within his gang. However, when he rashly takes revenge upon a rival gang member for killing one of his own, he determines to do everything he can to avoid capture by the police. The main threat to Pinkie’s freedom is Rose (Andrea Riseborough), a young and naive waitress at a local cafe who was the last person to see Pinkie’s murder victim alive. When Pinkie seduces her to see exactly how much she knows, she becomes entangled in the seedy underworld of 1960s Brighton. Pinkie finds out that Rose knows a little too much and decides to keep her as close as possible to ensure that she won’t betray him. However, with Rose’s interfering boss Ida (Helen Mirren) doing her best to show her that Pinkie is nothing but a cold blooded killer, Pinkie’s trust in Rose is put to the test, as he wonders how long murderer and witness can continue to live together.
Whilst the premise of the film, based upon Graham Greene’s 1938 novel of the same name, shows much promise, it often fails to fulfil it. One of its most obvious flaws is that it fails to really make you care about the characters. Although Riseborough’s sweet performance as Rose is one of the film’s better aspects, it is rendered useless as it is matched with that of Riley. While he may have mastered the dead-eyed stare and gangster snarl, his performance is underwhelming as his character lacks any charm or redeeming features, which renders Rose’s unfaltering devotion to him as bordering on the ridiculous.
Despite the pedigree of the support cast, with Helen Mirren, John Hurt and Andy Serkis all featuring, the film doesn’t offer them much to work with. Although Serkis is able to ham it up as a gang overlord and Hurt fulfils his small role dutifully, Dame Helen has a decidedly harder role. As with Rose’s feelings for Pinkie, you never truly believe in the strength of feelings that Mirren’s Ida has for Rose, as the script offers little basis for them or any chance for the two of them to develop any chemistry.
Nevertheless, the film is not without merit. The action sequences that bookend the film, away from the unbelievable character-driven drama that blights its middle, manage to bring some excitement to proceedings. Similarly, whilst much has been made of Rowan Joffe’s choice to set the film in 1964 rather than the 1930s of the source novel, it does have its advantages. The decision to use camera equipment from the 1960s undoubtedly gives the film the look and the feel of the time, and produces some truly beautiful shots and sequences, even if it also leads to the confusing and somewhat unnecessary of scenes between Mods and Rockers in the film.
Ultimately the film is ambitious but flawed. Despite the occasional directorial flourishes, the film suffers from a limp script that lacks the ability to draw any sympathy for its characters and, as a result, Brighton Rock is something of a wet affair.
See Brighton Rock at York City Screen. Check out the cinema's website for times and further details.
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