By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Rowan Joffe
Starring: Andrea Riseborough | Helen Mirren | John Hurt | Philip Davis | Sam Riley
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2011
Running time: 111
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233192/
Thom says: “This absorbing adaptation of the great Graham Greene (how could he have not won the Nobel prize is a mystery) novel is a remake of a 1947 entry which I haven’t seen which starred the young Richard Attenborough. This film is updated to 1964 to take place during the Brighton Beach riots which add an alternative to the more specious violence of the small-time hoods that populate the original story. Pinkie is an ambitious, immature gangster who marries a naïve, simple-minded waitress (Rose) after she sees him murdering a rival hooligan. Mirren plays Ida, a café owner who employs Rose and is protective of her after the odious Pinkie starts to take charge of her life and treats her miserably. This is a fine first feature effort from Joffe as he gives the film a good noire appeal. Not having read the novel I have no doubt that Greene loathed his character Pinkie but the film presents Rose as addled and totally blind to Pinkie’s dark, evil side and I found this problematic as well as Ida’s support of the deluded Rose. Still. the final scene here raises the film to a higher level, as does the final death scene overlooking the Brighton Beach harbour. 4 cats”