Sexy Beast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sexy Beast | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Jonathan Glazer |
| Produced by | Jeremy Thomas |
| Written by | Louis Mellis David Scinto |
| Starring | Ray Winstone Ben Kingsley Amanda Redman Ian McShane |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures (USA) |
| Release date(s) |  September 13, 2000 (Toronto Film Festival) January 12, 2001 June 13, 2001 |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Sexy Beast is a 2000 British film directed by Jonathan Glazer, starring Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley and Ian McShane. It was Glazer's debut feature film, having previously been a director of music videos, such as Rabbit in Your Headlights for British electronica group UNKLE[1].
The film earned Kingsley an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor[2]. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Sexy Beast the 15th greatest British film of all time[3].
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Ex-con and expert safecracker Gary "Gal" Dove (Ray Winstone) has served his time behind bars and blissfully retired to a Spanish villa with his beloved wife Deedee (Amanda Redman). He also has the company of longtime friend Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and his wife Jackie (Julianne White). Their idyll is shattered by the arrival of an old criminal associate, the angry and unstable Don Logan (Ben Kingsley).
Don is intent on enlisting Gal in a bank heist back in London. As Gal meekly but stubbornly refuses Don's many requests to join the heist, Don becomes enraged by Gal's happiness and feels that the group has abandoned him. After revealing a lingering infatuation with Jackie, he makes several unwelcome attempts at reconnecting with her. As the confrontations between Don and Gal escalate, Don grows violent. He hurls torrents of abuse at the group while at the same time spitefully painting himself as a victim of their infidelity. After finally storming away in a rage, Don is kicked off of his plane and returns to Gal's home with the intention of murdering him. Instead, Deedee surprises him with a shotgun. The entire group combines their efforts, first beating and shooting him, and finally crushing his skull.
With Don dead, Gal is forced to return to London to perform the job as if nothing has happened. Teddy Bass (Ian McShane), a powerful crimelord, has organised the heist after learning about the bank from Harry (James Fox), a banker who had gay sex with him at an orgy. Gal feigns ignorance over Don's whereabouts, but Teddy is immediately suspicious. Gal now fears both getting arrested by the police and being murdered by Teddy. Since Don's arrival, Gal's anxiety has manifested in strange dreams where he is menaced by a humanoid rabbit, which echoes a disastrous hunting trip earlier in the film.
During the heist, Teddy's gangsters use surface-supplied diving gear and drill into Harry's bank vault from a pool in a neighboring bath house. The water from the pool floods the vault and shorts its security system. While helping to empty the vault's safe deposit boxes, Gal secretly pockets a pair of large diamond earrings. After the job is successfully completed, Teddy forces Gal to accompany him to kill Harry. Though Teddy has realized the truth about Don's murder, he does not care enough to retataliate by killing Gal. Instead, he forces Gal to forfeit his share of the loot and banishes him from London.
Gal returns safely home and his paradise is restored. Deedee wears the diamond earrings that Gal stole, and it is revealed that Don is buried under the double-heart insignia at the bottom of their pool, which had been damaged by a falling boulder just prior to Don's arrival.
[edit] Reception
The film has received generally favorable reviews including critical acclaim for its performances and characterisation. As of February 4, 2008, the film has received an aggregate rating of 86%[4] on Rotten Tomatoes, deemed Fresh by the website. Another popular aggregate review website, Metacritic, has given it a rating of 79%[5] as of February 4, 2008, a rating which classifies the film as receiving Generally favorable reviews by the website's rating standards. It received high praise from writers at the San Francisco Chronicle[6], Entertainment Weekly[7], Slate[8], Rolling Stone[9] and the Los Angeles Times[10], but was panned by Stephen Hunter of Washington Post who described some of the film's moments as "Ben Kingsley spraying saliva-lubricated variants of the F-word into the atmosphere like anti-aircraft fire for 10 solid minutes."[11] It was also described as "often enjoyable" but "massively uneven" by Variety[12].
[edit] References
- ^ Wittmershaus, Eric. Review of Sexy Beast, Flak Magazine, July 11, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Sir Ben's Sexy honour, BBC News, December 31, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Total Film's list of The 50 Greatest Brit Flicks Ever, November 2004. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Sexy Beast at Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed February 4, 2008
- ^ Sexy Beast at Metacritic. Accessed February 4, 2008
- ^ Morris, Wesley. Kingsley a beauty in 'Sexy Beast'. His maniacal sadist adds frenzied edge, San Francisco Chronicle, March 15, 2002. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen. Movie Review: Sexy Beast, Entertainment Weekly, June 22, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Edelstein, David. They Pull Me Back In: There's no escaping Ben Kingsley in the riotously entertaining Sexy Beast; The Fast and the Furious runs out of gas, Slate, June 22, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Travers, Peter. Sexy Beast:Review, Rolling Stone, June 15, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Turan, Kenneth. Sexy Beast: Stylish, but Very Nasty, Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008.
- ^ Hunter, Stephen. 'Sexy Beast': Gandhi Goes Gangsta, Washington Post, June 22, 2001. Accessed February 4, 2008
- ^ Elley, Derek. Sexy Beast Review, Variety, September 21, 2000. Accessed February 4, 2008.
