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In Neil Jordan's offbeat crime drama, an ex-con quickly discovers that the world he knew has changed radically in the 7 years that he's spent in prison and that adjusting to some sort of normality in his old surroundings, is going to be a huge challenge. The gritty realism with which this story is told makes it compelling to watch and the loneliness and confusion he experiences is perfectly understandable and depicted with great credibility.
Immediately after being released from prison, small-time criminal George (Bob Hoskins) goes to visit his old home but gets an extremely hostile reaction from his ex-wife and is unable to make any meaningful contact with his teenage daughter who doesn't even recognise him. Frustrated and hurt by what's happened, he accepts his good friend Thomas' (Robbie Coltrane) offer to stay with him for the immediate future.
George, who chose not to incriminate his old crime boss when he went down, feels that Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine) owes him a favour and so approaches him for a job. He's given the opportunity to work as a chauffeur for an upmarket prostitute called Simone (Cathy Tyson) and soon starts to drive her around to the high-class hotels and posh mansions where she visits her clients. They share an uncomfortable relationship at first because George feels that she has too many airs and graces for someone in her profession and she regards him as an embarrassment because of his uncouth behaviour and appalling dress sense. As time passes, however, they start to warm to each other and Simone buys him some smart suits and shirts to make him look more presentable. George, who's always been used to being exploited, abused and threatened, starts to enjoy the attention. He's a romantic at heart who loves Nat "King" Cole's "Mona Lisa" and in his own mind starts to draw parallels between the enigmatic Simone and "the lady with the mystic smile".
On a few occasions, Simone asks George to take her to King's Cross where they park close to the ladies of the night who ply their trade there. She's disappointed when she doesn't find the person she's looking for and later asks George to help her find a friend of hers called Cathy (Katie Hardie), who she fears may still be working under the control of the same violent pimp they both used to work for in the past. George, who's fallen in love with Simone by this stage, readily does what she asks and puts himself in great danger as he searches through the clip joints and "knocking shops" of Soho. When he eventually finds Cathy who's a 15-year-old, drug addicted prostitute and the two women are reunited, Simone doesn't show her appreciation in the way that he'd hoped and he finally sees their relationship for what it really is.
George is an interesting character because, despite his considerable experience as a criminal, he's remarkably naïve and easily shocked by what he encounters during his time working with Simone. He's also not really streetwise and doesn't recognise danger as quickly as he should. This makes him vulnerable to exploitation by the many unscrupulous people he's surrounded by and notably, Thomas is the only person who ever treats him with any level of respect or genuine friendship. Bob Hoskins' Oscar-nominated portrayal of George makes him a very sympathetic character primarily because he's fundamentally good-natured but also because of how bewildered he is by so much of what transpires.
Cathy Tyson is utterly convincing as the elegant Simone, Robbie Coltrane is great as the likeable Thomas who has a liking for bizarre thriller plots and Michael Caine is excellent as Denny Mortwell, a diabolical villain who's ruthless, repulsive and completely devoid of any redeeming qualities.
As the movie's director and co-writer, Neil Jordan certainly did a great job of creating a genuinely offbeat, skillfully directed story that's incredibly atmospheric and featured numerous recognizable London locations to give the movie its strong sense of time and place.
score 9/10
seymourblack-1 30 October 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4428523/ |
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16-11-2020 01:59:08