Brighton Rock (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
Brighton Rock is a 2010 British film based on the novel of the same name by Graham Greene
. Rowan Joffe
wrote the screenplay and directed the film, which stars Sam Riley
, Andrea Riseborough
, Andy Serkis
, John Hurt
, and Helen Mirren
.
The novel was previously made into a film in 1947 by the Boulting brothers under the same title. Although the novel and original film are both set in the 1930s, the 21st century adaptation takes place in Brighton
and is set during the Mods and Rockers
era of the 1960s.
Riley plays "Pinkie
", the role originally played by Richard Attenborough
. 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
and in Brighton itself.
, the sociopathic
leader of a Brighton gang, murders a gambler who owes him money. He then tells Rose, a young waitress with whom he is infatuated, about the crime in a fit of passion, and hastily marries her to keep her quiet. Ida, a local businesswoman, befriends Rose and takes it upon herself to save the girl from the monster she has married.
in September 2010 and the BFI London Film Festival in October 2010.
The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2011, and in Australia on April 14, 2011. In the United States, IFC Films
released the film in August 2011, theatrically in New York City
and Los Angeles
, and elsewhere via video-on-demand.
, "Mr. Joffe 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."
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
. Rowan Joffe
Rowan Joffé
Rowan Marc Joffé is a British screenwriter and director. He is the son of director Roland Joffé and actress Jane Lapotaire, and half-brother of actress Nathalie Lunghi....
wrote the screenplay and directed the film, which stars Sam Riley
Sam Riley
Sam Riley is an English actor and singer.-Early life:Riley was born in Menston in the Metropolitan District of Bradford in West Yorkshire, the son of "a textile agent and nursery-school teacher". He was educated at Uppingham School...
, Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Riseborough
-Early life:Riseborough grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites"....
, Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis
Andrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
, John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, and Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
.
The novel was previously made into a film in 1947 by the Boulting brothers under the same title. Although the novel and original film are both set in the 1930s, the 21st century adaptation takes place in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and is set during the Mods and Rockers
Mods and Rockers
The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s. Mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers were motorcyclists, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets. The...
era of the 1960s.
Riley plays "Pinkie
Pinkie Brown
Pinkie Brown is a fictional character, the main character and antihero of Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock.-Character overview:In the novel, Brown is portrayed as an up-and-coming gangster, the teenaged leader and enforcer of a powerful gang in the Brighton underworld...
", the role originally played by Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
. It was largely filmed in the nearby town of Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, with Eastbourne Pier
Eastbourne Pier
Eastbourne Pier is a seaside pleasure pier in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England.The proposal for a pier was first mooted at the end of 1863, and highly favoured by the town’s major landowner, the 7th Duke of Devonshire...
standing in for Brighton Pier
Brighton Pier
The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier is a pleasure pier in Brighton, England. It is generally known as the Palace Pier for short, but has been informally renamed Brighton Pier since 2000 by its owners, the Noble Organisation, in an attempt to suggest that it is Brighton's only pier...
, and at Beachy Head
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m above sea level. The peak allows views of the south...
. Some scenes were shot at Hedsor House
Hedsor House
Hedsor House is a Georgian style mansion in England in the southern most point of Buckinghamshire in the village of Hedsor, Taplow. Perched overlooking the River Thames, a Manor house at Hedsor can be dated back to 1166 when the estate was owned by the de Hedsor Family...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
and in Brighton itself.
Cast
- Sam RileySam RileySam Riley is an English actor and singer.-Early life:Riley was born in Menston in the Metropolitan District of Bradford in West Yorkshire, the son of "a textile agent and nursery-school teacher". He was educated at Uppingham School...
as Pinkie BrownPinkie BrownPinkie Brown is a fictional character, the main character and antihero of Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock.-Character overview:In the novel, Brown is portrayed as an up-and-coming gangster, the teenaged leader and enforcer of a powerful gang in the Brighton underworld... - Andrea RiseboroughAndrea Riseborough-Early life:Riseborough grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites"....
as Rose - Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
as Ida - John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
as Phil Corkery - Phil Davis as Spicer
- Sean HarrisSean HarrisSean Harris is a British actor, who is best known for his performance as Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis in the film 24 Hour Party People. He grew up in Norwich, Norfolk, where he lived until he was 23....
as Hale - Nonso AnozieNonso AnozieNonso Anozie is a British actor who has appeared in several stage plays and four films to date.In the summer of 2002 he became the youngest person in history to play William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and won the Ian Charleson Award in 2005 for his performance as Othello.Anozie was hired in 2006 to...
as Dallow - Craig ParkinsonCraig ParkinsonCraig Parkinson is a British actor known for playing the twins Jimmy and Johnny Kray in the 2010 ITV drama Whitechapel.Parkinson first came to notice with his portrayal of English music mogul Tony Wilson in director Anton Corbijn's film Control .His film and television appearances include People...
as Cubitt - Steve EvetsSteve EvetsSteve Evets is an English actor and musician, who found fame in the leading role in the 2009 film Looking for Eric.-Personal life:...
as Mr. Wilson - Andy SerkisAndy SerkisAndrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
as Mr. Colleoni
Plot
Pinkie BrownPinkie Brown
Pinkie Brown is a fictional character, the main character and antihero of Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock.-Character overview:In the novel, Brown is portrayed as an up-and-coming gangster, the teenaged leader and enforcer of a powerful gang in the Brighton underworld...
, the sociopathic
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
leader of a Brighton gang, murders a gambler who owes him money. He then tells Rose, a young waitress with whom he is infatuated, about the crime in a fit of passion, and hastily marries her to keep her quiet. Ida, a local businesswoman, befriends Rose and takes it upon herself to save the girl from the monster she has married.
Pre-production
Joffe was originally uninterested in the project, which as first proposed was to be a remake of the film, but after re-reading the novel, Joffe "fell absolutely in love with the character of Rose" and convinced the studio to let him adapt the novel directly. Joffe later explained why he did his own adaptation of the novel:Release
Brighton Rock played at the Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
in September 2010 and the BFI London Film Festival in October 2010.
The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2011, and in Australia on April 14, 2011. In the United States, IFC Films
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
released the film in August 2011, theatrically in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and elsewhere via video-on-demand.
Reception
According to Stephen HoldenStephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
, "Mr. Joffe has turned Brighton Rock into a full-scale film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
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
Playboy (lifestyle)
A playboy is a modern version of a public Casanova — a man of means with ample time for leisure, who demonstratively appreciates the pleasures of the world.The term has also been applied to a flashy womanizer, such as a player, pappagallo, or Don Juan....
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
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
but a gritty and despairing noir. That’s good enough for me."
External links
- Official British website
- Official Australian website
- Official US website
- Brighton Rock: Rowan Joffe interview from BBC FilmsBBC FilmsBBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including An Education, StreetDance 3D, Fish Tank, Stage Beauty, A Cock and Bull Story, Nativity! and Match Point.It aims to make strong British films with...