Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 270: Sun Oct 7

Face (Bird, 1997): BFI Southbank, NFT, 3.10pm


This 35mm presentation, which is also being shown on September 22nd, is part of the Working Class Heroes season at BFI Southbank. You can find the full details of the season here.

Time Out review:
Ray (Robert Carlyle), a lapsed East End communist, has long since given up the common good for private gain. Still, even he's shocked when his brothers-in-arms turn their guns on each other after persons unknown steal the stash from their latest raid. The suspects are limited: there are five in the gang, and Ray knows at least he's staunch. After Antonia Bird's unhappy Hollywood venture, Mad Love, this heist-gone-wrong picture reclaims lost ground on home turf, and shares with Bird's BBC films Safe and Priest a determination to get in where the action is. It's muscular, raw, and aggressive. These un-English qualities make for rough edges, but also for vividly authentic popular cinema and plenty to argue about in the pub afterwards. Ronan Bennett
's hard-boiled script keeps the tension simmering, the excellent Carlyle and a knockout cast somehow make you care, and there's a palpable sense of London in the dark days of winter, dog eat dog, and time running out.
Tom Charity


Here (and above) is an extract.

No comments:

Post a Comment