Dir. Rowan Joffé , UK , 2010, 106 mins
Cast: Sam Riley, Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough, John Hurt
Review by Carol Allen
Rowan Joffé’s remake of Graham Greene’s novel Brighton Rock may well evoke nostalgia for some audiences. I’m not though talking about nostalgia for the Boulting Brothers 1947 film. Because rather than set this new version in the same period, Joffé has reimagined it in the “mods and rockers” Brighton of 1964. The period, which was also the era when the Kray twins were ruling the London gangland roost, proves an apt setting for Sam Riley as Pinkie, the psychopathic young gangster at the centre of the story, who manipulates innocent young waitress Rose (Riseborough) into falling in love with and marrying him, his reason being that she is the only witness to his murder of Hale (Sean Harris) – and a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband.
Apart from one element – in the sixties virtually everyone had a permanent fag in their mouth, whereas here hardly anyone smokes – Joffé accurately captures the feel of the seaside resort at the time, particularly in the all important scenes on Brighton Pier, played in this film by Eastbourne pier. Brighton Pier, where 1947′s Pinkie, director Richard Attenborough, shot much of Oh! What a Lovely War, was destroyed by fire in 2003. The film is also beautifully shot by John Mathieson from the opening black and white fading into sepia sequence of the cold waters of the English Channel and going on to a nail biting sequence, which cuts between the funfair atmosphere on the pier itself and the murder taking place under it. Another sequence which uses the period to good effect is one where Pinky and a fellow gangster escape on a moped in the midst of a flock of mods, who are gearing up for their own pitched battle with their rocker rivals. But the main reason for setting the film in the sixties as opposed to completely updating it to the present, Joffé explains, is that any later than that and the character of the naïve Rose just wouldn’t be believable in more modern times. One element which is an important theme in Greene’s novel is his trademark Catholicism, which haunts Pinkie and Rose and one which Joffé has wisely and unfashionably retained.
Despite the fact that Riley and Riseborough are up and coming young actors, in order to get the film off the ground Joffé was told he had to have a bankable star. The star who swung it for him is Helen Mirren as Ida, Rose’s hardbitten hotel owner boss, who has her own reasons for protecting the girl. With her blonde hair turned auburn and often unflattering close ups which make her look hard and raddled, Mirren makes the character her own.
There are also good contributions from John Hurt as Rose’s gentleman friend, Harris, another up and coming young actor to watch, as Hale, the aforesaid nasty piece of work, who gets bumped off by Pinky early in the film and Andy Serkis with limited screen time as rival gang leader Colleoni. Riley makes a good fist of playing one of literature’s most chilling villains and the very versatile Riseborough, previously seen playing the young Margaret Thatcher on television, is a touchingly vulnerable and frumpy Rose. The wedding night scene between her and Pinkie is particularly chilling.
