Movie 666

Ray Winstone is the Sexy Beas

A recent poll asked a random sampling of Americans to vote for the best foreign films of all time. Those Americans that had actually seen a foreign film and were therefore eligible to particiate in the survey produced a somewhat predictable slate of movies. Life is Beautiful, Il Postino, and Cinema Paradisio made the list — not to mention of course the classic subtitler of men and the sea and exploding underwater bombs, Das Boot.

I realized when I read the list that for the most part the films mentioned were ones I routinely avoided when visiting the local art house or slightly artsy multiplex (except for Das Boot, of course, which is always worth the price of admission). I have never been one for bittersweet social drama, and even though I am sure some of the films are worth seeing and worthy of merit and important documents of our time, I always tend towards the alternative fare even at the alternative theater.

Additionally, it made me kind of sad that not a single Beat Takeshi film had made the list. Somewhere on the chart, sandwiched between Raise the Red Lantern and Toto Les Heros, I wanted to find Takeshi’s Violent Cop. Nevermind the entire body of world cinema that had somehow escaped those polled — movies by Antonioni, Bergman, Godard, Kirosawa, Herzog, you name it. Das Boot, in fact, was the only film on the list made before 1990. I at least expected one flick starring Hanzo or some blood letting samurai to make the cut.

But I am digressing. The point I want to make is that out there in the world of unbuttered popcorn, seltzer water, and supplemental literature (staples of the art house experience), are films which betray the artso genre. These are movies made overseas that do not feature Catherine Deneuve romping in the jungle, Emma Thompson violating social mores in the royal court, or Roberto Benini somersaulting in a barnyard.

Two of the best thrillers of the summer are currently working their way around the American art house circuit and have nothing in common with a Victorian tea party. Dominik Moll’s With a Friend Like Harry (2000) and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast (2000) are two genre thrillers that might have appeared in the mainstream movie circuit had the first been shot in English (instead of that pesky French) and the second been shot in legible English (instead of that pesky illegible English found in movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels). Despite nods to American idiom, however, both films are distinctively off center and provide new mind candy for viewers burned out by the annual summer Hollywood garbage fire (both movies were actually released in their respective countries some time ago).

Model friend Harry: Smart, rich, psychotic.

With a Friend like Harry is a French thriller about lost opportunity and chance encounter and where such things may lead. Stressed out family man Michel stumbles into a old college friend named Harry who rejoins his life in a most aggressive fashion. Harry invokes in Michel his past life and calls into question Michel’s relationship with his wife and children, his parents, and the career choices that have led him to his present state of discomfort. Then Harry moves forward to rectify Michel’s situation by solving Michel’s financial problems with his massive checkbook and physically killing those who stress out Michel.

The interaction of Michel and Harry illustrates the give and take associated with decision making in life and the inertia that accompanies life’s choices. Additionally, With a Friend Like Harry shows the financial implications of life’s decisions, as Michel struggles with lots of family and limited funds while wealthy Harry coasts through life with few social ties and ability to save others with his monetary resources.

With a Friend Like Harry reminded me of The Vanishing, another cold, understated, under-the-skin French thriller that continues to claw at you after you have left the theater. With a Friend Like Harry also calls to mind the Hitchcock thrillers Strangers on a Train and Rope with their fatal interactions between male characters that on some level suggests competing facets of a single personality. Ultimately, however, With a Friend Like Harry is more subdued than Hitchcock, with earthier characters that are less self-reflexive about their murderous and conspiratorial impulses. It is a recipe that works so well you might not even notice the bearded fellow wearing the beret and drinking the cafŽ ole next to you in the art house theater.

Sexy Beast is another alternative thriller that stresses psychological interaction over high budget spectacle. In Sexy Beast, former gangster Gal is woken from his retirement slumber by Don, a more aggressive, more outspokenly vicious version of Harry who is determined to pull Gal back into the game and will gladly overturn Gal’s life to do it.

Pissed: Don

Sexy Beast sometimes stumbles with its motivations and rationales, but its basic characterizations and magnetically compelling aesthetics elevate the movie above some noticeable shortcomings. For instance, I don’t believe Ben Kingley’s Don ever quite lived up to the marketing blurb on the poster that declared that all lingering memories of Kingsley’s Gandhi would be purged after seeing him kick ass in Sexy Beast. Frankly, all memories of Kingsley playing Gandhi were purged for me after seeing Kingsley play a torturer in Death and the Maiden. Kingsley is not quite as evil as he could have been, but it is sure fun to watch him rant and punch and piss on Gal’s rug for sheer meanness.

Similarly, the actual unfolding of the gangster plot in Sexy Beast could have been more detailed and intriguing. While individual scenes are great, sometimes the links between scenes are fuzzy or nonexistent. Nonetheless, the moments that are in the film are so competently stylized with color saturated image and electronic sound as to make them completely engaging. The underwater robbery of a high security bank by swimsuited gangsters is unique to say the least, while the robbery setup involving mob boss Mr. Big taking it from behind by a homosexual banker is a no holds barred commentary on the extent to which one will go to make a dishonest buck.

Sexy Beast has other great moments: a boulder randomly crashing in Gal’s swimming pool; Gal’s testicle making an impromptu escape run from his swimsuit during the credits sequence; Don’s conversation with himself while shaving his head; Mr. Big’s smirk while interrogating Gal at breakfast. Although individual elements are not always synched, Sexy Beast, like With a Friend Like Harry, is worth the extra price for a ticket and the pretentious company one finds at the art house.

– Demon

Related posts:

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Secret War: Will the Public Ever See Kubrick’s Fear and Desire?
3. Brutal Massacre: A Comedy
4. Last Words: What the Other Critics Aren’t Saying
5. Top 666 Movie List

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