Sexy Beast

I first heard about this movie back in June when I read about it in some British film magazine, I forget the name of the magazine. Anyways they listed it as the best movie of the year, and gave it excellent praise. They even gave the issue a free DVD with a trailer for the movie on it, which made it look like a very good movie, however:

I don't know any of the actors in the movie, so I can't relate them to anything else they've been in, but they all gave pretty solid performances. Nothing special enough to write home about, but nothing terrible to write home about either.

Now I will admit, I was pretty confused at some points. My dads British, and I've been to England many-a-times, but the accents in this movie were something else! Especially that of the main character's best friend. I could barely understand what he was saying. I'm going to chalk this up to the reason I was confused at a few parts in the movie, well not really confused because I knew what was going on, and kind of why, but I felt like I only knew it because I pieced it together, not because the movie made it clear.

The only major complaint I have about the movie is that it shifts in mode too much. Its comedic throughout, but sometimes it jumps up and down. It goes between being a Lock Stock style movie, where your kind of thrown into this plot where everyone already knows each other and everyone has a specific name/role, but then it falls back and heads in a more dramatic style only to switch it up again. I'd say it gave me a headache because of this aspect, but I feel just fine.

There are the occasional extra special camera shots and techniques, that reminded me of the Big Lebowski at times, but I felt they didn't really tie into the movie. The Big Lebowski used those scenes very effectively, and it did add greatly to the movie, but in this case it's just kind of like they are just "there". Kinda hard to explain if you haven't seen the movie.

I got the whole underlyings of the meaning of the movie, even though it was never cleary explained, and if you only caught bits and pieces of the movie then you'd think it was the most random and obscure movie ever made, but I understood it nonetheless.

If your in the mood for a dark comedy/mystery type movie, then go see it sometime, you might just like it. I did for the most part.

(3 out of 4 stars)

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I saw Sexy Beast over the Summer here in the States. I liked it, though I wouldn't say it's quite in the same class as Brit Gangster classics like Get Carter (1971), The Long Good Friday (1980) or Mona Lisa (1986).

As for not recognizing any of the actors, the film-stealing performance by Ben Kingsley is a virtual lock for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and has already won a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor. Kingsley of course became famous in his Oscar-winning turn as Mahatma Gandhi (1982) and has been in things as diverse as Bugsy, Without a Clue, Species, Sneakers, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Death & the Maiden, and a little something called Schindler's List.

The main lead in Sexy Beast is Ray Winstone, a Brit who hasn't made the crossover into American features yet, though Yanks may recognize him from Nil by Mouth, The War Zone or Qudrophenia.

Sexy Beast's main gangster back in London is played by Ian McShane, best known as TV's antique-dealing crimesolver "Lovejoy".


Anyway, for off-beat character studies set in a crimeworld milieu, you can do a lot worse than Sexy Beast. Kingsley's work alone is worth the price of admission/rental.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I completely agree about Kingsley's performance, because it was simply amazingly convincing. I hadn't seen him in any works before, but later that night I saw him in The Assignment and was wowed by the variety of acting styles he is capable of. A round of applause for Ben Kingsley.

Great film...here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...exy-beast.html