Review of Sexy Beast (2001) by Ddblaw A — 22 Sep 2013

I somehow skipped this Anglo-Spanish crime drama in the cinemas... Written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto, directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley and Ian McShane, it'll provide lots of entertainment. It was Glazer's debut feature film, who had previously directed music videos and commercials for companies such as Guinness and Levi, and he did quite well! The film earned Kingsley an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. And even more amazing was that in 2004 the magazine Total Film named Sexy Beast the 15th greatest British film of all time... I would not go as far as saying that, but it had charm of its own.

A straight forward story of an ex-con and expert safe-cracker Gary "Gal" Dove (Ray Winstone) who has served nine years behind bars and blissfully retired to a Spanish villa with his beloved ex-porn star wife Deedee (Amanda Redman). He enjoys life in the company of longtime friend Aitch and his wife Jackie. But, their idyllic life is shattered by the arrival of an old criminal associate, sociopath Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), who is intent on enlisting Gal in a bank heist back in London...

The movie felt like a roller-coaster, with ups and downs, building enough excitement for the audience to be satisfied with the final product which has something like 300 uses of the word "cunt", and 400 "fucks" (but somehow it passed the censorship and got out in US). I already mentioned that Ben Kingsley's performance received a majority of the accolades given to Sexy Beast... winning Best Supporting Actor awards from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, Florida Film Critics Circle, San Diego Film Critics Society, Southeastern Film Critics Association and the Toronto Film Critics Association. He also was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award (losing to Ian McKellen for his performance in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), a Golden Globe and above mentioned Academy Award (losing both to Jim Broadbent for his performance in Iris).

In addition, the film also won Best Director and Best Screenplay from the British Independent Film Awards and Special Recognition ("For excellence in filmmaking") from the National Board of Review. Check it out - it's worth it.