BRIGHTON ROCK
Written and Directed by: Rowan Joffe based on the novel by Graham Greene
Starring: Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt
BRIGHTON ROCK, Rowan Jaffe’s latest directorial effort, which itself is a remake of a 1947 film with Richard Attenborough, is a taught and well constructed noir that elevates its drama to an almost Shakespearean heights. Jaffe updates Graham’s novel and sets it in Brighton during the 1960s, amid rising social tensions and the so-called “youth revolt” between the mods and rockers, which creates a sense of impending menace that permates the film and is used to add to the mounting tension between the characters.
Jaffe does this with looks and glances more than dialogue, very similarly to what he did in the script for THE AMERICAN. You’re never quite sure what anyone is going to do, but you can’t help feeling that things won’t end well for anyone.
The film centers on Pinkie Brown, played to chilling perfection by Sam Riley, a young up and coming gangster who, after witnessing the murder of one of his fellow gang members, Pinkie takes the opportunity not only to take revenge, but to take his place as leader of the gang and proceeds to challenge the Corleone gang (no relation to THE GODFATHER), the big game in town. The film follows his attempt to take over and the eventual unraveling of his psyche.
Riley plays Pinkie like a well-groomed feral dog; while he may look slick and put together in a well fitted suit, something’s never quite right, and there’s an undercurrent of rage and disgust with everyone – including himself – that will leave you not only guessing what he’ll do next, but often leaves you utterly horrified. It’s the kind of villain you start to root for until you realize that he has to be stopped.
Andrea Riseborough, plays Rose, a painfully shy girl who works in a restuarant gets caught up in Pinkie’s plans when she ends up holding the ticket for a picture of the person Pinkie killed underneath the pier. While Rose is completely swept up in Pinkie’s charms, the audience knows that all of it is just a facade – and one that Pinkie never really works at – but we can’t help feeling terribly for Rose and wish that we could help her in some way.
Help eventually comes in the form of Helen Mirren’s Ida, the shop owner who feels that there’s something amiss about Rose and Pinkie being together and begins investigating, especially once her friend Phil (John Hurt) gives her an idea of what Pinkie’s really involved in. Since this is a noir, Mirren is effectively the Sam Spade character of the piece, and while she does get to deliver some great lines and even a little humor into an otherwise incredibly dark film. She becomes the only hope that Rose has, even though by the time she comes in, things may be too far gone to help her at all.
BRIGHTON ROCK is a great appetizer to get you ready for the dramas of the fall, with a stellar performances, a mastery of its tone and a deft use of suspense, the film’s climax really does reach Shakespearean heights (it borrows from my favorite play) and is all the better for it. It makes the tragedy that much greater and makes the film, which finishes with a twist I didn’t expect, one of the best of the summer.
