Brighton Rock
This noir movie is based on a Graham Greene novel which I have not read. I was actually happy about this as I had no preconceptions about the movie. This adaptation takes place in 1960's Great Britain near and around as you might guess, Brighton. A small time group of hoodlums want some payback for the murder of their boss. A naive, lonely and virginal waitress named Rose (Andrea Riseborough) accidentally gets photographic evidence that could implicate a gang member in a revenge murder. Pinkie (Sam Riley) gets the assignment to obtain and destroy the picture, find out what if anything Rose knows and if necessary, send her to the afterlife. Pinkie is just the person for the job as his vileness and coldness and willingness to kill have already made the other gang members nervous to be around him. Pinkie's boldness and hatred only increase throughout the film as he kills his way to become boss of his gang.

This film is not an action film; it's a drama. And the drama is primarily about the relationship between good and evil or more precisely between Rose and Pinkie.
Rose is quite obviously desperate for someone, anyone to pay attention to her. In a sad, very depressing scene she has to listen as her obviously uncaring (and abusive?) father bargains a fair brideprice for her with the maleficent Pinkie, who intends to marry the underage Rose to forestall any chance of testimony against him. Actually whenever I see Rose, I expect that Eleanor Rigby should be playing. It's a very religious film , not so much in the imagery though there is that but in the conversations between Pinkie and Rose about heaven and hell. Pinkie and Rose are both Catholics.

Pinkie is quite adamant that there is hell but couldn't care less about heaven. He has a way of speaking that constantly belittles Rose and a few times it looks as if he's not above hitting her. At the same time while Rose is enthralled by and deeply in love with Pinkie, Pinkie is fascinated by her, even if that fascination is almost wholly based in contempt.

On the side of the angels is Rose's employer Ida (Helen Mirren-who is still going to be vamping men when she's 70), who as a former "party girl" herself, can recognize the pure evil radiating from Pinkie. One of the men Pinkie killed was an associate of Ida's. Ida basically engages in a struggle to save Rose's life and soul. In this she's advised by her friend Phil (John Hurt) who has never gotten to know Ida in a biblical way and appears to deeply resent it.

Look for current Game of Thrones actor Nonso Anozie as Dallow, a member of Pinkie's gang who starts to realize that Pinkie is not all there. Andy Serkis has a small but important role as Mr. Colleoni, the most powerful gangster in Brighton and a man who intends to keep that distinction. This is a VERY dark noir indeed but it's not very violent. I liked the acting here. I liked this film and thought it was very worthwhile. It throws a few curveballs at the viewer's head and like all good curveballs they don't necessarily break when or where you think they should.

This looks, feels and sounds like a fifties or sixties movie. It doesn't have hyperactive camera work or crushing sound. It assumes that a scene can last for a while and not lose the viewer's interest. The ending will stay with you.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.