Brighton Rock (2010)

Charts the headlong fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager with a religious death wish.

Director:

Rowan Joffe

Writers:

Rowan Joffe, Graham Greene (novel)

Stars:

Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sam Riley	...	Pinkie
Andrea Riseborough	...	Rose
Helen Mirren	...	Ida
John Hurt	...	Phil Corkery
Philip Davis	...	Spicer
Nonso Anozie	...	Dallow
Craig Parkinson	...	Cubitt
Andy Serkis	...	Colleoni
Sean Harris	...	Hale
Geoff Bell	...	Kite
Steven Robertson	...	Crab
Maurice Roëves	...	Chief Inspector
Steve Evets	...	Mr Wilson
Francis Magee	...	Pavement Photographer
Adrian Schiller	...	Registrar

Storyline

An adaptation of Graham Greene's classic novel about a small-town hood who marries a waitress who witnessed him murdering a rival thug in order to keep her quiet. As his gang begins to doubt his abilities, the man becomes more desperate and violent.

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Plot Keywords:

waitress | gang | beach | riot | gang war | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 February 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

Anilikos dolofonos

Filming Locations:

Regency Cafe - 17-19 Regency Street, Victoria, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£352,815 (UK) (4 February 2011)

Gross:

£708,616 (UK) (11 February 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

StudioCanal, BBC Films, UK Film Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Carey Mulligan was cast as Rose, but was replaced by Andrea Riseborough after Mulligan dropped out to do Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

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Connections

Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 2 February 2011 (2011)

User Reviews

Curate's Egg of a film

As a Brighton resident, I had to see this, but also probably spent more time looking at the locations (and more critically) than a normal viewer. On the plus side, there is excellent cinematography, and the film creates an atmospheric mid 60's version of Brighton that might be convincing to anyone too young to remember that time, but which contained too many jarring anachronisms for me. For example Rose lives in a tower block, which could have existed in 1964, and would have still been soulless and depressing, but would also have been practically brand spanking new, not run down and shabby with 20 years of neglect. This highlights another failing of the film, the clichéd exaggerated unrelenting squalor that all the criminals live in, which again is untrue to the period, twitching net curtains and keeping up (often threadbare) appearances was how things worked then, in working class neighbourhoods especially. You could create an oppressive atmosphere from these real elements (and the culture clash of the pre and post war worlds) perhaps more easily than from this invented total squalor.

So if the world the film creates is a Hollywood version of 1960's Brighton, do the characters engage you? Well I loved Helen Mirren and John Hurt, they brought a touch of class whenever they appeared, and Phil Davis is another very fine actor who is always watchable. Sadly the two main characters don't quite pull it off, and if I have to lay the blame it is chiefly with Sam Riley's Pinkie. If he could have alternated his cold unsmiling thuggishness with some charm, shown Rose a little tenderness some vulnerability even, that would have made her falling for him, and her naive notion that she could save him more convincing, and maybe made his cruelty and occasional physical violence toward her more shocking. Andrea Riseborough as Rose gives a fair performance, given that she does not have much to work with.

I'm sorry if this review makes the film sound worse than it is, because truth be told despite its failings it is consistently watchable, and still managed to engage me. An interesting failure.