He recounts episodes of crime and violence leading to his first prison sentence of seven years. The film's story unfolds as a surreal narrative of connected vignettes punctuated by vaudeville interludes. Initially he addresses the camera dressed in prison garb other times, he tells his tale in a vaudeville-style theatre with a live audience. A stark contrast with these animalistic tendencies also emerges through his undoubted talent as an artist, with many of his creations being shown.įor the most part captivatingly brilliant and inspired, Bronson utilises daring storytelling techniques, a pulsating electronic soundtrack and the immense talent of Tom Hardy to deliver a thought-provoking, entertaining and audacious movie.The film begins with scenes from Peterson's delinquent early life which he narrates with self-deprecating humor. That raises an interesting subject about the role of violence as entertainment, echoing Bronson's own perception. He seems so desensitised to physical pain that it's hard for the audience not to follow suit. Matt King, best known as Super Hans from Peep Show, provides much of Bronson's humour, delivering a superb performance as the flamboyant inmate Paul Daniels.Īlthough the scenes of violence are numerous, the brutal beatings dished out to Bronson aren't painful to watch. The contradictions deep inside the character are wonderfully brought out through the way he often shifts from wild smile to blank emotionless stare, as if a switch has been flipped internally. Hardy is mesmerising as Bronson, regaling the crowd with his fantastic monologues in the theatre. This sojourn is both hilarious and sad, complete with an ingenious sequence of the zombiefied patients attempting to boogie to 'It's A Sin' by the Pet Shop Boys.
Bronson movie movie#
The undoubted highlight of the movie comes when Bronson is dumped in a looney bin and pumped full of drugs to keep him sedated, after dishing out a few too many beatings on prison guards. The film certainly suffers in the latter half when these sequences become less frequent.
Bronson movie archive#
In between a subjective recreation of the key events in his life, plus some deftly deployed archive footage, the action flits back to Bronson on the stage addressing the audience and putting forth his opinions. "I still had my principles." The movie also hammers home the point that Bronson has never killed a man and only committed one real crime in the outside world - a bungled armed robbery in which no-one was hurt. The events in Bronson's life that we witness unfold in his early days of disillusionment and schoolboy violence before getting to the crux of his notorious prison days, although the narration underlines the fairly sympathetic portrayal of the man. This subjective gaze is mirrored by Refn's expressionistic direction, with angry red colours never too far away.
Decked out in a magician's outfit and laying bare his fractured psyche, it becomes clear that the movie attempts to view Bronson through his own eyes, craving status and using the prison as his stage. This is far from a straight biopic and is all the more rewarding as a result.īronson, portrayed by Tom Hardy, unravels his life story in the realms of a theatre to an enraptured crowd, with his savage thuggery creating a fascinating juxtaposition with the cultured environment. From this bold, confrontational opening Nicolas Refn's superb movie grabs us by the neck and refuses to let go, cleverly treating the subject matter with a surrealist slant. "My name is Charles Bronson and I want to be famous," booms Britain's most violent criminal while intensely staring directly at us.
Starring: Tom Hardy, Matt King, James Lance Screenwriters: Brock Norman Brock, Nicolas Winding Refn
0 kommentar(er)
