New movies from Tom Hardy "Bronson"directed by Nicholas Windig Refn will release October 9th, 2009.Reviews Bronson :
Genres: Art/Foreign, Drama, Crime/Gangster and Biopic
MPAA Rating: R for violent and disturbing content, graphic nudity, sexuality and language. Distributors: Magnet Releasing
Running Time: 1 hr. 32 min.
Release Date: October 9th, 2009 (limited)
Starring: Terry Stone, Amanda Burton, Kelly Adams, Tom Hardy, Matt King (III)
Produced by: Nick Love, Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Synopsis :
There's perhaps more than a passing echo of Goodfellas in those opening words but Windig Refn is playing a tricky game with the audience, risking, with his niche subject matter and unsavoury title character, alienating many viewers while failing to attract new ones.
After all, how is one supposed to feel about a man who has spent most of his life in prison, 34 years of them in solitary confinement? Refn's film sensibly doesn't patronise the audience by presenting him as a hero but this is itself part of the problem. Why bother making a film about Bronson at all? The film's failure to provide a solution to these questions will surely divide reaction.
One thing it does have in its favour is a superb title performance from Tom Hardy (Star Trek: Nemesis) who consulted with Bronson himself prior to filming and has built himself in a mammoth giant of a man for the part. It's not just the physical qualities that speak of commitment to the role: from the moment he dares stare down the viewer to camera, twitching and wheezing guttural belly laughs, it's an intimidating turn.
The most memorable and clever parts of the film deal with Bronson's delusions of grandeur and celebrity head on by having him present on a dimly lit stage to an imaginary captive audience who rise and fall at his every anecdote. The man himself occasionally appears in grotesque clown like make-up, and it's in these moments that the film best approaches the subtle psychological profile it badly wants to be.
