Sexy Beast

..the Winner is...Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, hands down (and panting on all fours). Ben also wins the award for Best (and most frequent and creative) Usage of the "c" word, which plays a major part in this outrageously deranged and always thoroughly entertaining (even at its bloodiest) full-frontal bombast of a film.

The plot couldn't be any simpler: retired gangster Gal (yes, that's his name) is happy lounging around the pool at his Spanish villa with the woman of his dreams and a drink in his hand. But the big bad brutal bulldog Don (Kingsley) has been sent to convince him to do One Last Job. Gal says no. Donnie doesn't like this answer. Violence ensues.

To say any more would be a disservice; this movie has to be experienced, not explained. Suffice to say, the brilliant performances (Ray Winstone and Ian McShane in particular) and the amazingly slick editing make every second of Sexy Beast a kinetic foray into surrealism and a tour de force of epic proportions for Kingsley. So why are you still bloody sitting there, you steaming c***?!!! Go rent it now.

Let's assume you are a casting director, there are two roles: one is Gal, a retired safe-cracker enjoying the life of Riley in a beatific villa in Spain with his wife and friends; and the other is his former criminal associate Don Logan, a browbeating, invective-pelting psychopath who wills to recruit him to a new job and will not take no for answer. Then you are given two candidates: Mr. Gandhi himself, Sir. Ben Kingsley and a bovver heavy Ray Winstone, the choice is rather self- evident.

However, that is not the case for UK scenester Jonathan Glazer when he begins to work on his feature film debut SEXY BEAST, who does the obverse, fingers Mr. Winstone for the hapless Gal and Mr. Kingsley for the rivetingly menacing Don Logan, a delectable volte-face rewardingly earns him an Oscar nomination, meantime, Winstone also magnificently brings about an incarnation very different from his usual image, a rough diamond type, graced by the lovey-dovey intimacy between him and his wife DeeDee Dove (Redman), an erstwhile porn star.

It is a taut iteration in the UK gangster genre, the story is nothing too sparkling, it is Glazer's swift and impressive execution takes the full credit. The harbinger arrives in its opening, a boulder falls right in into the swimming pool of Gal's villa (which betrays a sloppy CGI burnished effort), while he is sunbathing under the blistering heat, this portends an impending threat which will disrupt the placidity and imperil those who cannot get away, Don Logan is coming to visit, and he will not be in a pleasant mood if he knows that Gal determines to decline his very generous offer. So sparks fly, but not without a droll war of (swearing) words and things will inevitably get physical, Kingsley's intimidating presence deviously pays off the looming dread simply elicited by the mention of his name, and after an ironical turn of events, he does manage to press-gang Gal into partaking in the action however reluctant he is, to break into a bank vault via water pressure, The suspense isn't swelling during the action, but after, when the head of the criminals, Teddy Bass (McShane, another great villain, less showy but infallibly lethal), a character turns out to be far more ruthless than Don Logan, bluffly tells Gal that "he knows what they did in Spain" and promises he will come to visit in the due future. Well, why there isn't a sequel to this?

Parlaying his reputation as an eclectic music video director into this breakout debut, Glazer has concocted up a stunning-looking fare seeped with robust characterization, pulsating rhythm of montage, scintillating chromatic disposition and optimal pop taste, ultimately transmogrified it into a beguiling conglomerate of romanticism, perversity absurdity and bloody gallows humor like an arch cautionary tale: there is no easy way of going straight, so think twice before you get your feet wet!

To put it simply: I love this movie! I've really been looking forward to this movie, mostly because of Kingsley's acclaimed performance. And he is indeed brilliant in the role of the brash, uninhibited, shamelessly ruthless Don Logan--a role that should go down in history. I haven't seen Jim Broadbent's performance in "Iris," so I can't technically say if Kingsley deserved the Oscar over him, but I'm glad he got nominated, because it would be an abomination if he didn't. Kingsley is absolutely terrifying, not showing a bit of remorse. And it's a real joy to see the man who's famous for playing the well-known pacifist Gandhi take on a role which requires him to spout the "f" word 500 times in one whole minute. OK, I may have been exaggerating there, but believe me...there are scenes in this movie that make "Pulp Fiction" look like a G-rated Disney feature. Let's just say I've never heard the "f" word used so many times, at such a lightning-fast pace. Kingsley has some memorable moments, including one where he gets in trouble for smoking on a plane, and cops an alibi involving the male flight attendants sexually abusing him. As cruel as he is, I found myself laughing hysterically at Don. As Kingsley said himself, Don is the type of character who says the kind of things that are on most people's minds, but they're too afraid to let it out.

Though Kinglsey steals the film, Ray Winstone is the star and he's also great. I haven't seen a great many English films, so I don't remember seeing him before, but now I hope to see him in more films. And I was impressed to find out the movie was made by a first-time director. Jonathan Glazer did a terrific job, creating a gloriously frenetic pace. The running time is a succinct 85 minutes, and the film never takes a breath. It always captures you with in-your-face images. Glazer's sense of style is amazing. Not to mention the soundtrack is excellent. It's a nice irony: how this dark comedy ends to the tune of Dean Martin's "Sway."

On my first viewing, it took time for me to get accustomed to the cockney accents, but after approximately 30 minutes I was able to decipher most of the dialogue--and the film has some great, memorable dialogue! It's not like with "Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels" where I can watch it 100 times and still need subtitles. Not to mention "Sexy Beast" is a much more entertaining film.

All I can say is don't expect an intricate plot, with many twists and turns. The plot is all pretty simple: Retired gangster lounges around his beautiful house in Spain, then gets persuaded into doing one last heist. I'm sure that sounds very familiar. But the beauty is in its simplicity. And the film isn't in any way pretentious. It is what it is--and what it is is a smart, energetic, entertaining, hilarious, extremely well-acted dark comedy.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

This is a spectacular piece of British cinema only made better by the lack of Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis.

Ben Kingsley portrayal of a nasty bastard is amazing his delivery is to the point and scary, His character has a slight smile and staring eyes that drill into you and talking himself into a frenzy makes him even more horrible to cope with.

What is shown in this film is very quick editing combined with sound continuity so the cuts are invisible and unintrusive, strong use of colour, using a low key to make even the sun of Spain seem dark and a style unseen before, the lack of cliché ridden cockney slang makes this film even more credible.

When the film first starts we get a dream like underwater shot which you are not expecting, a metaphor for 'living the dream' possibly, but throughout the film the increasing amount of surrealism adds another layer to this almost perfect British gangster film.

Ben Kingsley's portrayal of gangster Don Logan is destined to go down as one of the most memorable mobsters in filmdom; up there with the best from Robinson, Bogart, Cagney, Raft, deNiro, Pacino et al. Kingsley's all that good and more. And the other actors, in their portrayals of fellow gangsters and their lovers, are also excellent. The story is simple. Gal (Ray Winstone) is a retired English gangster living a life of leisure at his Spanish villa. Then one day his idyll is shattered by a visit from Don Logan, an old protégé, and man to be feared. Logan's intent is to lure Gal out of retirement for 'one last job'. Gal wants nothing to do with it, and the first half of the movie is a battle of wits between the two men. The second half of the film deals with the heist and its aftermath. The crime is downplayed in the movie which is primarily a psychological exploration of these gangsters; their personal demons, and the relationships amongst themselves. They are indeed scary people, no sympathetic characters here.

This is one of the best movies of 2000, and is highly recommended. I don't understand how IMDb reviewers can rate this movie so low. In my book it definitely rates an "A".