Jump to content

Brighton Rock (2010 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sc2353 (talk | contribs) at 22:34, 30 November 2023 (removed Category:British thriller films; added Category:British crime thriller films using HotCat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see Brighton Rock.

Brighton Rock
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRowan Joffé
Screenplay byRowan Joffé
Based onBrighton Rock
by Graham Greene
Produced byPaul Webster
Starring
CinematographyJohn Mathieson
Edited byJoe Walker
Music byMartin Phipps
Production
companies
Distributed byOptimum Releasing
Release dates
  • 13 September 2010 (2010-09-13) (TIFF)
  • 4 February 2011 (2011-02-04) (United Kingdom)
Running time
111 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[3]
Box office$1.8 million[3]

Brighton Rock is a 2010 British crime film written and directed by Rowan Joffé and loosely based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Serkis, John Hurt, Sean Harris and Helen Mirren.[4]

The novel had previously been made into a film under the same title by the Boulting brothers that premiered in 1948. Although the novel and original film are both set in the 1930s, the 21st century adaptation is set during the Mods and Rockers era of the 1960s.[5][6]

Sam Riley plays "Pinkie", the role originally played by Richard Attenborough. Filming began in October 2009. It was largely filmed in the nearby town of Eastbourne, with Eastbourne Pier standing in for Brighton Pier, and at Beachy Head. Some scenes were shot at Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire[7] and in Brighton itself.[7]

Plot

In 1964, Pinkie Brown, the sociopathic enforcer of a Brighton gang, murders Fred Hale, who had killed the gang leader Kite. Brown befriends Rose, a young waitress who witnessed the gang's activity, to keep an eye on her. She falls in love with him. To prevent her from being compelled to give evidence against him, he marries her. Ida, Rose's employer and a friend of Hale's, takes it upon herself to save the girl from the monster she has married.

Cast

Production

Rowan Joffé was originally uninterested in the project, which as first proposed was to be a remake of the 1948 film. After re-reading the novel, however, Joffé "fell absolutely in love with the character of Rose" and convinced the studio to let him adapt the novel directly.[8] Joffe later explained why he did his own adaptation of the novel:[8]

The novel was worthy of a contemporary adaptation. In fact, it makes it almost more dutiful as a filmmaker if you love the novel, to bring it to life without the restriction of censorship. I mean, a lot of the Catholicism was cut out of the original film because they didn’t want to offend Catholics... there are aspects of the film where if critics were to be honest about, and few of them have been certainly in England, that the 1947 version is a rather tame adaptation and certainly fails to do justice to the character of Rose, because the original black and white was made in a period where we were culturally and politically very patronizing to women.

Apropos to the location, Pinkie kills Spicer by shoving a stick of Brighton rock candy down his throat.

Release

Brighton Rock premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010[9][10] and the BFI London Film Festival in October 2010.[11]

The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2011,[12] and in Australia on 14 April 2011.[13] In the United States, IFC Films released the film in August 2011, theatrically in New York City and Los Angeles,[14] and elsewhere via video-on-demand.[15]

Reception

Brighton Rock received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 51% of 96 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Brighton Rock is a lean noir boasting an appealing trio of stars, but its old-fashioned presentation only reinforces how little it distinguishes itself from the superior original."[16] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1 to 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a 57 based on 24 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] According to Stephen Holden,[14] "Mr. Joffé has turned Brighton Rock into a full-scale film noir with the stylistic undertow of a more modern British gangster movie. As potentially lethal as the thugs may be, they are also slightly over-the-hill small-time bookies who seem anything but invincible, and the movie gives each a complicated personality. Andy Serkis is outstanding as the oily Colleoni, a smirking sybarite and crime lord with playboy airs." Holden notes "Mr. Riley, now 31, is a little too old to play a teenage gangster, and it throws the movie off somewhat. If Pinkie's recklessly impulsive behavior is that of a frightened teenager, Mr. Riley's slick hair, facial scar and cold, wide-eyed stare suggest a seasoned smoothie who has watched a lot more dirty water slosh under the bridge than any teenager could have witnessed." Nevertheless, Holden concludes "By discarding most of the theological debate [found in the book], the movie is no longer a passion play but a gritty and despairing noir. That’s good enough for me."

References

  1. ^ "StudioCanal Features". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021.
  2. ^ "BRIGHTON ROCK (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Brighton Rock at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ Holden, Stephen (25 August 2011). "'Brighton Rock,' Film of Graham Greene Novel - Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  5. ^ Dawtrey, Adam (15 May 2008). "Optimum to remake 'Brighton Rock'". Variety. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  6. ^ Elliott, Emily-Ann (19 May 2009). "Brighton set to Rock again". The Argus. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Filming Locations for Brighton Rock (2010) in Brighton, Eastbourne and London". The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Interview with Brighton Rock director Rowan Joffe". Trespass magazine. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  9. ^ "At TIFF: Brighton Rock Extends the Graham Greene Adaptation Curse". Movieline.com. 13 September 2010. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  10. ^ Lambert, Christine (2010), "Brighton Rock premiere photos - 35th Toronto International Film Festival", DigitalHit.com, retrieved 10 April 2012
  11. ^ Green, Emma (24 October 2010). "Brighton Rock is London Film Festival's Surprise Film". TheFilmPilgrim.com. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Brighton Rock Reveals U.S. Poster, Trailer and Release Date | Filmophilia". filmophilia.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  13. ^ "Brighton Rock". Urban Cinefile. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  14. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (25 August 2011). "A Meek Rose Amid the Mods and Rockers in an English Resort Town". The New York Times. NYT Critics Pick. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  15. ^ "A Meek Rose Amid the Mods and Rockers in an English Resort Town". IFC Films. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  16. ^ "Brighton Rock (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 6 October 2021. Edit this at Wikidata
  17. ^ "Brighton Rock Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brighton_Rock_(2010_film)&oldid=1187701561"