Review of Bronson (2009) by Professor S — 02 Apr 2012

Bronson, or as it's alternatively titled "Tom Hardy Spits While He Talks for Ninety Minutes", was not really at all what I was expecting, either as a film about a man with a turn-of-the-century pugilist's mustache, or as a Nicholas Winding Refn picture.

I'll chalk the facial hair up to coincidence. But as the film began and the camera gazed unflinchingly into the motionless upper body of Tom Hardy I was fully expecting the verite style and hyper realism dotted with spurts of gritty melodrama that defined the Pusher trilogy. A few intricately designed, rather Brechtian shots later, and I knew this was going to be different. I guess I shouldn't be entirely surprised, Refn used the same loose narrative structure in Fear X.

This departure represents both the strongest and weakest points of the film. Slow pans across picturesque stagings remind me of the great Stanley Kubrick film, Barry Lyndon, interestingly enough the subject matter and it's treatment of such recalls another great Kubrick film, A Clockwork Orange. The colors are incredible, how many prison films can make that claim. The glaring, natural warmth of the light that comes flooding in through the windows of his "Uncle's" apartment while a young acquaintance seduces Hardy's savage Bronson is perfection. It should also be mentioned that the style never overtakes the substance, in a film that opens with its subject declaring he always knew he was going to be famous, the style defines the substance.

On the other hand, the strange structure and seemingly endless drive towards the next visual stimuli leaves the majority of scenes feeling inconsequential. Only the most powerful create any lasting emotion, largely because nothing lasts, it's always onward towards the next violent outburst. Perhaps this is a metaphor for the film's subject, but that doesn't prevent it from getting in the way.

Still, the incredible visual aspects of the film create lasting impressions, you may not be able to recount exactly what occurred in a particular scene, but you will remember the tone. And I have always been in awe of Refn's ability to tell a story through multiple points of view simultaneously. We see this world through Bronson's eyes and those of an omniscient narrator. Its structure may need a little polish, but Bronson is a visually stunning film, with a brilliant performance from Tom Hardy.