Brighton Rock

Sorry guys for the lack of updates - posts about Never Let Me Go and Griff the Invisible are coming up soon.

In the meantime, for anyone who might be wanting to see the film Brighton Rock, don't.   I saw it earlier tonight and it was terrible.  The film is based on a Grahame Greene novel so it has some literary pedigree.  Briefly, set against the backdrop of the Mod and Rockers riots in Brighton around 1964, the film centres around a thug named Pinkie who witnesses the murder of one of his colleagues.  When a revenge plot goes wrong, he is tasked with ensuring that a witness, Rose, does not go to the police.  Lo and behold, he seduces her into loving him and it becomes one fucked up relationship for the rest of the movie.  The gangland warfare and riots escalates and it ends with one character with sulphur on their face and the other in a mental institution run by nuns.*

I should say that I'm not a huge fan of mob/gangster movies, Catholic guilt movies, and movies where the male characters are steeped with misogyny, so maybe it really had no chance.  But seriously, there characters were annoying, stupid and not the least bit redemptive.  The pacing was interminable and the script was lacking in depth, not really revealing much about the characters and why they are the way they are.  In the end, they're just thugs and stupid characters doing stupid and irrational things.

And it wasn't enough that the writer/director failed, because in a way it could have been saved with good, believable performances.  While the two leads try their best, they did not transcend the unrealistic and unlikeable characters that were written for them.  Sam Riley plays Pinkie without any charm or real warmth, so it's hard to see why Rose would be so devoted to him, even until the horrible ending.  Clearly, she's deranged, but again, neither the writing nor performance of Andrea Riseborough show any insight into the character.  Hell, even Dame Helen Mirren couldn't really transcend her role.  And when that happens, you know it's a lost cause.

If you desperately want to see a filmed version of the novel, perhaps the original 1947 movie is your best bet.

4/10 - for Helen Mirren, the music and the cinematography.

* Those nuns were frakking scary.  Sister Act this is not.  More like that nun that comes out of nowhere in Vertigo.

Hello world

Hi everyone.  Welcome to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotty Mind, a discussion blog for our film club.  I'll be blogging posts about films seen as part of the film club, as well as films generally, in a particular classic and foreign films.  Hopefully there will also be contributions from other film club members.  I think Natalie and Anthony have already put their hands up for non-film related posts, so there's that to look forward to.

For now, let's get straight into some film discussion: favourite film of last year.  Did we agree with the Oscars and think that The King's Speech was the best?  Or was The Social Network the better film?  My personal favourites were The Social Network and Toy Story 3.  The Social Network because it was really expertly made, from script to score to performance.  I think the real discriminating factor was that it was just so on point for this 'facebook' Web 2.0 generation.  When a film captures the zeitgeist as well this does, I think it's exactly what film as art is meant to do.  I've watched it 3 times now and it's still riveting each time.  Toy Story 3 because, apart from also being expertly made, that last scene made me ugly cry.  Yes, deep film discussion there.  Guilty pleasure?  What else but Burlesque?

What were your favourite films of 2010?