Sexy Beast

Sexy Beast is the latest British import to get rave reviews among the art-house crowd, and it's obvious why: it features first-rate performances from two of England's best film actors (Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley). Kingsley is astonishing as an East End gangster sent over to Winstone's villa on the Costa del Sol to persuade him to come back to England for one last job. The novice director, Jonathan Glazer, allows Kingsley and Winstone the time and space to show just what they're capable of. (Glazer came from directing television commercials, but there's very little jump-cut freneticism here.)

But partly because of the relatively sedate camerawork, and partly because of the script (by Loius Mellis), the good bit of the film -- the war of wills between the two leads -- feels like an adapted stage play. And when the action moves to England and the pace picks up, Glazer turns out not to have any ability to build suspense. I think Winstone narrowly avoids death at one point (just as he does right at the beginning of the film, for no obvious reason), but it wasn't very clear.

A lot of the film simply fails. Glazer insists on throwing in various dream sequences and magical realism which don't work at all, and the exposition of the reasons for the heist seems utterly pointless. (There's also a shot of Ian McShane dripping water, which needed a lot more explanation. Ambiguity is not always a good thing.) On the other hand, Kingsley's last lines will stay with all who see this movie for a very long time, and not only because Kingsley is such a good actor: Glazer shoots them magnificently.

So it's a curate's egg of a movie. If you go to the movies in order to see great acting performances, then go see this one. If you want to see a perfectly-formed film, however, don't bother. Go rent Dog Day Afternoon or something instead.

Posted by Felix at 1:45 EST