Bronson (2008)
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Tom Hardy, Amanda Burton, Luing Andrews
Synopsis:
The tale of Britain's most violent prisoner, held at Her Majesty's pleasure more for his offences inside than out. Re-christening himself Charlie Bronson, and liking nothing better than a good fight, he tells an appreciative audience how he progressed from one slammer to the next, holding staff hostage and spending prolonged periods in solitary confinement.
Review:
Presented as a form of performance theatre, with a very confrontational shooting style, this is less a narrative and more a fantasia on the life of a psychotically violent individual. Like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, because he is our engaging guide through his own excesses he ceases to be repellent, but instead causes us to muse on the impotence of the state apparatus when brought face to face with such an individual who must needs remain behind bars indefinitely. Refn uses flamboyant cinematic tricks such as stylised tracking shots (again very Kubrickian), high and low-angle shots and slow motion, together with extremely loud extracts of Bruckner and Wagner, to mimic the arch posturing of his protagonist, who seems to want nothing but notoriety.
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Tom Hardy, Amanda Burton, Luing Andrews
Synopsis:
The tale of Britain's most violent prisoner, held at Her Majesty's pleasure more for his offences inside than out. Re-christening himself Charlie Bronson, and liking nothing better than a good fight, he tells an appreciative audience how he progressed from one slammer to the next, holding staff hostage and spending prolonged periods in solitary confinement.
Review:
Presented as a form of performance theatre, with a very confrontational shooting style, this is less a narrative and more a fantasia on the life of a psychotically violent individual. Like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, because he is our engaging guide through his own excesses he ceases to be repellent, but instead causes us to muse on the impotence of the state apparatus when brought face to face with such an individual who must needs remain behind bars indefinitely. Refn uses flamboyant cinematic tricks such as stylised tracking shots (again very Kubrickian), high and low-angle shots and slow motion, together with extremely loud extracts of Bruckner and Wagner, to mimic the arch posturing of his protagonist, who seems to want nothing but notoriety.
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Tom Hardy, Amanda Burton, Luing Andrews
Synopsis:
The tale of Britain's most violent prisoner, held at Her Majesty's pleasure more for his offences inside than out. Re-christening himself Charlie Bronson, and liking nothing better than a good fight, he tells an appreciative audience how he progressed from one slammer to the next, holding staff hostage and spending prolonged periods in solitary confinement.
Review:
Presented as a form of performance theatre, with a very confrontational shooting style, this is less a narrative and more a fantasia on the life of a psychotically violent individual. Like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, because he is our engaging guide through his own excesses he ceases to be repellent, but instead causes us to muse on the impotence of the state apparatus when brought face to face with such an individual who must needs remain behind bars indefinitely. Refn uses flamboyant cinematic tricks such as stylised tracking shots (again very Kubrickian), high and low-angle shots and slow motion, together with extremely loud extracts of Bruckner and Wagner, to mimic the arch posturing of his protagonist, who seems to want nothing but notoriety.