Review of 44 Inch Chest (2009) by Robert L — 12 Jun 2010

Enough C**t's and F**ks for everyone.

Psychological dramas are few and far between in today's market place of cinema, maybe there is a reason for that. It comes as no surprise that the newest one being 44 inch Chest is British in more ways than one.

Colin Diamond is a used car dealer, who's recently lost his wife, the love of his life to a much younger, more attractive man. This has put Colin in a state of total distress, plunging him into becoming nothing more then a hollow shell of who he was. However Colin's friends want to set things right. They take it upon themselves to kidnap the young lover and plan to kill him. Can Colin really kill the man who stole his wife or will he find forgiveness in his heart?

44 Inch Chest is written by the team that brought us Sexy Beast, so it doesn't come as a shock that there is a substantial amount of bad language, however even I find it offensive and unneeded when literally every other word is either C**t or F**k, I know putting this at the top of my review seems like I'm being petty but it really is one of the major set backs for the movie, because the characters and actors have such depth that it just appears lazy for them to resort continually to crude language.

Now that that's out the way, 44 Inch Chest is a unique film, it is a challenging watch and offers the viewer has insight into the mind of a seriously distraught human, not just by how Colin talks and walks but chunks of the movie (whole chunks) are from inside Colin's head, we are given no warning to this change it just happens, but somehow in our own minds, we know. That is the mark of a great film maker when they can tell the audience something fundamental without spelling it out for them.

It's also to the films credit that there is such a tiny cast with only 7 members in it, 4 of those being "big" names. The 4 big ones are: Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt and Tom Wilkinson. I don't know how much Malcolm Venville (the director) had to pay for them, but each was worth every penny as they pull the movie up enormously. Ray Winstone is his usual perfect self, and in 44 Inch Chest he produces another side to him as an actor, because as Colin, Ray Winstone becomes vulnerable, he lets himself be vulnerable on screen, this is a challenge for any actor and that Winstone nails it so perfectly is a true showing of the great man he is. Apart from Winstone, Ian McShane steals the film as the casually extravagant overtly homosexual Meredith.

44 Inch Chest looks beautiful, with Malcolm Venville using camera angles and time lapses to his advantage, the man is fast becoming a master of the dark arts, and make no mistake 44 Inch Chest is as dark as they come on screen, with it's tone, it's questions, it's subject, even it's language nothing about 44 Inch chest is happy, but is it as close as we can come to watching a man psychologically disembowel himself on screen for our pleasure.

One of the truly masterful things about 44 Inch Chest is it consumes time without you realizing it, it asks more questions then gives answers and is beautifully shot. Don't look at this one like its got action, 44 Inch Chest is all heart and C**t's.