Mean English People
You know, we are led to believe that the Brits are all kind, gentle people with impeccable manners. Here's a few films that will set you straight.
L4yer Cake He had a simple wholesale cocaine business, very easy, only dealing with people he knew until he got an offer to buy a million ecstasy tablets. The problem is they were stolen from some rather hateful Serbian gangsters and they know who the prospective buyer is and they are pissed. If you think British gangsters are tough, think again. This film has double, triple and quadruples crosses and yet you can get up and get a beer and still follow the plot when you get back. Very well done and it ain't over till it's over.
Face Ray (Robert Carlyle) is a 'Face" or an honourable man in British criminal parlance. He and his mates rob things, like an armored car service, to have a little spending money. Like all entertaining crime stories, something goes wrong. First the screw up the heist by taking all the small bills and leaving millions behind. With only 60,000 pounds each, there five member gang starts to turn on themselves. By morning, only 4 left and all 5 bags of money are missing. The money's gone somewhere and three more people turn up dead, so who's ripped them off. They band together and scour the city in search of clues and their cash, but it's far from simple. Much grittier than a Guy Ritchie film and rest assured there are no pretty boys in this cast. Better than most and directed by Antonia Bird who also gave us Ravenous. 107 minutes Rates R British w/o subtitles.
Circus Leo has lots of problems and he could use some cash to solve them. His bookie (Eddie Izzard) wants to get paid, his brother is screwing his wife and a hit man is convinced Leo killed his girlfriend. Leo is on the run from a variety of British thugs while trying to run the biggest scam of his career. Pretty high paced but not quite a Guy Ritchie film. British 2000 Rated R 95 minutes
Felicia's Journey If Happiness left you feeling uneasy, this Atom Egoyan film may affect your sleeping pattern. Ostensibly a film about a super nice, seemingly normal guy, Joseph Hilditch (Bob Hoskins) who is a serial murder of young homeless girls and prostitutes. He casually stalks them and befriends them in a slow spider like fashion. Ultimately, when he gains his victim's their confidence, they unburden their problems. After that, he helps them out by drugging and killing them. It all has to do with a slowly evolving fixation he had with his dominant television star mom. The tale is ordinary enough, but it is the ordinariness of Joseph's life that makes this such a fearful tale. Hoskin's is at his best, as this character who is truly the dark side of Humbert Humbert . Elaine Cassidy is very convincing as Felicia. This film left me feeling smarmy and nervous. Somehow it is rated PG-13 go figure. 116 minutes 1999
I Went Down Git gets out of prison and heads straight for his local pub. While away, his girlfriend has linked up with his best friend, Auto ( David Wilmet). Auto is also in over his head with the local bookies, who are prepared to do him some serious harm. Git intercedes, blinding one thug and breaking up another. The local mob boss is pissed that Git has been damaging his employees. To settle the score, he agrees to do a small collection job. Of course if it were simple, this would be a fairly short movie. He gets teamed up with a veteran heavy, Bunny Kelly ( Brendan Gleeson), who give him a primer in basic criminal behavior. It's a funny story and almost believable. All the actors are Irish, so this must be an Irish movie. 1998 Rated R 118 minutes
The Limey Why are Americans so fascinated with hard ass B ritish criminals? Perhaps we can't believe there are genuine social menaces lurking amongst such a polite race of people. Regardless, Terrance Stamp is excellent as a cockney ex con who comes to LA to find his daughter's killer. Yes, he is polite, but very mad. Essentially this is a Charles Bronson movie with a UK accent. A good primer for English rhyming slang. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, with Peter Fonda, Lesley Ann Warren and Luiz Guzman. 1999 Rated R 95 minutes.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels They need to raise a half million quid in a hurry or Hatchet Harry will start slicing off their fingers. It seems these four losers dropped a bundle to Harry in a rigged card game and they go to great criminal lengths in an effort to save their digits. This is actually a comedy and it was written & directed by Guy Ritchie . Sting is in it, too. 1998 Briitish w/American sub-titles Rated R 106 minutes
Sexybeast This might have been just another British thug movie but this one has Ben Kingsley playing his most un-Ghandian role to date as a gangster, Don Logan. Don has been sent to Spain to take Gal Dove (Ray Winstone-"Nil By Mouth) out of retirement to do one last job for boss Teddy Bass. Ray and his ex-porn star wife Dirty Dee Dee (Amanda Redman) really enjoy their debauched sun tanned existence an they are remiss to give it up. Don threatens Gal into agreeing but mysteriously disappears enroute back to London. Teddy is not happy but the heist goes off as planned and the end twists in a direction that will suck you in. There is so much palpable tension throughout this film, your jaw may ache by the time the credits roll. Directed by Jonathan Glazer. Rated R94 minutes English and Cockney 2001
Snatch A new Guy Ritchie film that has all the non stop action of 'Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels' plus Brad Pitt. Pitt plays an Irish Tinker who is the bare fisted boxing champion of his "Piker" clan. The mob kills his mother by burning her alive in her caravan to try and keep him in line. The tinkers revenge is both unexpected and thorough. A real intricate tale well woven by Mr. Ritchie and filled with edge of your seat activity throughout. 2001 90 minutes Rated R
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