Brighton Rock

The good people at the Orpheum treated me to a preview screening of Rowan Joffe’s new version of Brighton Rock last night. Here’s a story with a rich tradition of its telling. First the book by Graham Greene, then the 1947 film version with Richard Attenborough. Now Joffe has updated the setting to Brighton in 1964. The backdrop is therefore the violent clashes between the Mods and Rockers, a peculiar bit of British senselessness. The film is visually stunning. The period setting recreated to great effect. There are many themes at play in the story. There is a strong sense of order being displaced by chaos as the genteel amusements of the Brighton Pier and the glamour of the old tea rooms and hotels give way to the loutishness and violence of the youthful gangs. Brighton is a central character in this story. I understand the 1947 film is fronted with a disclaimer to the effect that the Brighton depicted as a dark world of alleys and knife wielding gangsters no longer exists. Clearly inserted so as to not irreparably damage Brighton’s always shaky tourism industry. Fact is, the 1964 version of Brighton is also so far removed from what it is today as to seem like the landscape of an alien world. Sam Riley as the rotten Pinkie may not be quite as menacing as Richard Attenborough, but he still does an excellent job and is supported by a great cast including Helen Mirren and John Hurt. Not a happy movie to be honest, although Joffe has kept the 1947 film ending intact, rather than defaulting to the grimmer version in the book, so there is a bit of light at the end.