Sexy Beast

It has been claimed that watching violent movies can have an effect on people. This is especially true of the recent spate of Cockney gangster thrillers such as Circus and Love, Honour and Obey which made any sane and reasonable person want to grab the nearest sawn off shotgun and lay waste to everyone involved in the making of said films. So it comes as a surprise to find that Sexy Beast is something we thought had become extinct, a high quality, intelligent British gangster film that was released to universal praise.

The story is centred around Gary 'Gal' Dove (Winstone), a retired London crook, who now spends his days quietly sunning himself by the pool at his luxurious Costa del Crime villa in Spain. However, his peace is shattered when he escapes by a hair's breadth from being squashed like a fly by a huge boulder that has hurtled off a nearby mountain. No sooner has he calmed himself down and re-applied the factor five than he gets a message from Teddy Bass (McShane), a London ganglord who wants him to come back for one last bank job, threatening to banish Gal to a life sunning himself behind bars if he refuses.

To make sure the message is not forgotten Teddy's not particularly friendly associate Don (Kingsley) arrives as a houseguest, and soon starts terrorising Gal and his family. From here on in things move up a gear as the two face off against each other, with Winstone (who has played some of the darkest characters to inhabit the cinema screens in films such as Nil By Mouth and The War Zone) appearing cuddly in comparison to the chillingly violent Don.

The film is saved from becoming a black-as-night thriller by Kingsley's over the top performance, which moves the film into dark comedy. The film's look, all bad tans, garish gold jewellery and Jackie Collins novels, is expertly composed by director Jonathon Glazer, making his feature debut on the back of that Guinness 'surfing' commercial. We can only hope that he continues to show this promise and doesn't end up marrying a rock star and wasting his talent like certain others who have come before him.

David Goody