Review of Brighton Rock (2010) by Rainer K — 29 Oct 2011

Based on a Graham Green novel, Brighton Rock is a portrait of the underworld of this British coastal town in the 60s. Pinkie Brown is the new leader of a small group of gangsters and Rose is a waitress that can link him to a recent murder. Pinkie intimidates her and seduces her trying to find out how much she knows, against all odds she falls in love with him.

In this strange set up where pure good is set against pure evil, Rose's boss Ida (Helen Mirren) attempts to save her from her own innocence, but will she be in time?

It is an interesting subject a passionate girl in love with a truly deceitful man. Due to the extreme characters likeness could have been compromised but it all goes smothly because of the good acting and the locations make it very real. The end is quite sharp and unexpected. There are just 2 little drawbacks and they are perhaps connected. Pinkie obviously despises Rose and what Rose stands for, why go through the motions of seducing, courting and marrying her when he just could kill her? and drawback number two is there is a religious catholic theme that it seems that in the novel was quite prominent, however in here is just mentioned in passing. I feel there was a bit of time to delve into the issue, it would have given another dimension to the film.