2000 Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Gary is a former gangster who has made a modest amount of money from his criminal career. Happy to put his life of crime behind him, he has retired with his wife Deedee to the sunny bliss of rural Spain, where he lives an idyllic life with his family and a few close friends. But Gary's contentment is ruptured by an unwelcome visitor from his past. Don.
According to IMDb:
"Ben Kingsley claims the character of Don Logan is largely based on his grandmother."
I was going to rate this four stars, but fuck it...have five. RIP Ben's Grandma.
After a spellbinding experience with Under the Skin, I was anxious to see Jonathan Glazer’s other work and I can safely say that Sexy Beast is definitely another incredible film of his resume. The dark humor keeps you entertained throughout the entire movie but there’s also a very interesting conflict lived by Ray Winstone’s character. The actor gives one his best performances and Ben Kingsley is absolutely insane on screen. He truly shines in this unconventional role, showing how versatile he can be. His presence was always unsettling and intimidating to watch. The other segment with Ian McShane was also engaging and his interactions with Winstone were quite memorable. Jonathan Glazer adds some surreal imagery and a strangely poetic quality to the dialogues, showing glimpses of what would come later in his career with Under the Skin. He is already becoming of my favorite directors and I can hardly wait to watch Birth.
Just when I thought I'd seen it all (just kidding, obviously I haven't, I haven't even seen The Godfather Part II, it's a rhetorical device, try to keep up), Jonathan Glazer comes out with one of the most creative crime films of the new millennium. I went into Sexy Beast knowing nothing about it except that I absolutely loved Glazer's Under the Skin, and it put me so far on the edge of my seat wondering where it was going to go that I recommend anyone with any interest in gangster movies to check it out before reading anything else.
There's no big central twist or anything like that, it's just so well executed and such a slightly shifted portrayal…
Oh, bloody hell. Fockin' lunacy. Fockin' sexy.
Angry blokes swearin'.
cursin'
yellin'
boilin'
roastin'
swelterin'
Some crazy cunt in a stupid bunny suit, some in stupid man suits. Oh, bloody hell. Ghandi swears like a God. Ohhhh. Ridiculous. Tremendous. Fantastic. Fan-dabby-dozy ---- tastic.
Film #2 in Driver’s December Death Penalty AKA The December Project , which is part of Cinebro's The December Challenge. 1 month, 100 movies.
89 minutes
"Shut up, c**t. You louse. You got some f**kin' neck ain't you. Retired? F**k off, you're revolting. Look at your suntan, it's leather, it's like leather man, your skin. We could make a f**king suitcase out of you. Like a crocodile, fat crocodile, fat bastard. You look like f**king Idi Amin, you know what I mean? Stay here? You should be ashamed of yourself. Who do you think you are? King of the castle? Cock of the walk? What you think this is, the wheel of fortune? You think you can make your dough…
Now this is a gangster film that will get under your skin.
This is the directorial debut from Jonathan Glazer, who many of you will know from this year's Under the Skin. Every quality that that makes UTS such a powerful film is present in Sexy Beast. It's just not fully developed yet. It's one of the best looking gangster films I've seen. One of the best British gangster films I've seen and something that makes sure it stands out from the crowd.
Glazer knows how to frame a shot. From the first scene onwards, every shot seems like it has been tailor made to impress the viewer. But don't get caught staring at the pretty pictures because this movie…
A good, not great movie. As I watched, I kept on thinking about this:
www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/british-movie/n13054?snl=1
Also, the most terrifying appearance of a human in a rabbit suit ever depicted on film until just the next year with Donnie Darko.
Ben Kingsley is typically not an actor I associate with the word "terrifying", but he certainly is in this movie. His scenes with Ray Winstone crackle with energy and menace - the movie loses something when he departs it, although Ian McShane does fine work, as well.
An exciting, kinetic piece of work - the foul-mouthed Ben Kingsley character is a bonus too.
The union of Don's murder and the bank robbery is at once exhilarating, shocking, adrenaline-rushing - it's a strangely beautiful scene which is the highlight of this movie.
Difficult to think of many other films that so succinctly exemplify what I value in the art form. Tonal complexity, black humor, visual imagination, heightened dialog, risk-taking performances and deft execution on each front. My only issue here is that the film's ending was not more mind-blowing than the rest of the film--but the story is so simple that it allows its immersive, dynamic style to overshadow the narrative to great effect.
A triumphant, successful use of genre as a vehicle for something utterly outside the genre.
9.8/10
Ben Kingsley at his best. The film works as a novel in cinematic form to the credit of dialogue and plot development. The inclusion of dream sequences is both appropriate and bold.
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