SEXY BEAST ----------
Gary 'Gal' Dove (Ray Winstone, "The War Zone") is living a hedonistic life on the southern coast of Spain with his beloved wife Deedee (Amanda Redman). They tan in the blazing sun, swim in their custom pool, and eat and drink with their best friends Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and Jackie (Julianne White). One day, Gal's almost killed by an errant boulder which crashes into their pool, cracking the tiles. His day will be even more shook up when he learns that the fearsome Don Logan (Ben Kingsley, "Rules of Engagement") is flying in to get Gal back to London for a major heist in "Sexy Beast."
Working from a feature debut script by Louis Mellis and David Scinto, commercial and music video director Jonathan Glazer, together with long-time collaborator, director of photography Ivan Bird, makes a startlingly stylish entry into the British gangster genre. From the opening shot of the oiled and tanning Ray Winstone highlighted by a background of sheer white, Glazer lets us know we're in the hands of an accomplished image maker.
Glazer's no slouch with character development either. We immediately can feel that Gal's money comes from a shady background. We also know that Gal adores his wife Deedee. Winstone and Redmond share a comfortable intimacy on screen, which Glazer highlights with the fantastical as Deedee emerges from their pool framed in a smoky heart Gal's just blown from his cigar.
The tension becomes palpable when Jackie informs them that Don Logan's called and is arriving the next day. We're first introduced to Logan by the back of Ben Kingsley's shaved dome, and damn if he doesn't project menace from even that angle. Kingsley, in a performance best described as psychotic pitbull, won't take no for an answer from Gal, who keeps insisting that he's retired. Logan lets Gal into a secret regarding Jackie, immediately regretting tipping his hand to his real agenda. The four friends, together with Gal's devoted Spanish pool boy, put up a protective front, but in the end, Gal must return to London.
Glazer's sunbleached whites, blues and yellows abruptly turn to watery grays and greens as Gal's greeted by rain and learns of the plot to rob a vault by drilling underwater through the Turkish bath next door. Teddy Bass (Ian McShane), the operation's mastermind, is far more sinister than Don Logan and Gal keeps Deedee in his mind like a beacon as he attempts to circumvent the landmines of his former underworld.
"Sexy Beast" falls somewhere between the best of the genre - "The Long Good Friday," for example, and the stylish hijinks of Guy Ritchie's "Snatch." While Kingsley's barking madman is the attention getter, it's Winstone's paunchy loverboy that has staying power.
B+
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