Brighton Rock - DVD

Film: Graham Greene's classic Brighton Rock, known in Germany as Am Abgrund des Lebens, was successfully filmed back in 1947. Now Rowan Joffe has taken on the material again, moving the action to the sixties and creating a completely original version of the drama.

The film takes the audience to the picturesque seaside resort of Brighton. But the idyll is deceptive, for a bloody power struggle rages in the underworld. Especially the young criminal Pinkie (Sam Riley) wants to make a career by any means. To do so, he even takes on the powerful gangster boss Colleoni (Andy Serkis). One of his men dies in a duel with Pinkie, which increases the reputation of the young thug suddenly. Too bad he was photographed on the pier just before the murder and naive waitress Rose (Andrea Riseborough) could identify him. And so Pinkie has no choice: with rough charm he seduces the girl and draws her more and more into his dangerous spell. Every attempt by her boss Ida (Helen Mirren) to keep Rose out of the criminal scene fails, and soon a tangible disaster is brewing.

In itself, Brighton Rock has enough successful elements to be safe from being dismissed as a typical remake. The cast is compelling, led by newcomer Andrea Riseborough and Control star Sam Riley. And the work of cinematographer John Mathieson, who has translated films like Gladiator, Robin Hood and The Phantom of the Opera into engaging images, can only be described as superb. Despite these good guidelines and the novel on which the story is based, this version of Brighton Rock fails to fully convince.

Because all the successful aspects are contrasted by a very unwieldy production, which suffers from an unsympathetic main character (which admittedly is not due to Sam Riley's good performance) and the sometimes quite theatrical acting of the protagonists. It's made extremely difficult for the viewer to get emotionally involved with the characters and thus develop interest in their fate. And what good are the most beautiful pictures if the viewer doesn't care about the story? The dreary events need a more relaxed realization that allows the viewer to get involved in the plot. Sure, it can now be argued that Joffe's screenplay sticks very closely to the literary original and that this could explain the somewhat unwieldy, artificial character of the production. But perhaps the film would have done more justice to its original if Joffe had taken a few more steps away from the book in order to turn the literary into something even more distinctly cinematic.

Good actors, engaging imagery and an interesting story are all on Brighton Rock's bottom line. As a result, the thriller drama might at least appeal to arthouse audiences used to slightly bulkier works. But those who prefer straightforward mainstream fare - which doesn't necessarily have to be any less ambitious - will find the ambitious realization rather hard to like.

Image + Sound: The great images captured by John Mathieson's camera in Britain's Eastborne, which has been transformed into the seaside resort of Brighton for the film, also come across very well on the DVD. The very clean image has a high overall sharpness and very consistent coloration. The audio is dominated by the dialogue and atmospheric score in many scenes. Here and there, smaller sound effects and ambient noises, like the sound of the ocean, add a bit of dynamics to the tonal proceedings. Very good!

Extras: Apart from the trailer for the film, the DVD unfortunately has no extras to offer.

Conclusion: Brighton Rock is an ambitious literary adaptation that scores with great images and strong actors, but also threatens to be crushed by a somewhat unwieldy production and dramaturgical heaviness. Technically, the film presents itself on DVD in very good quality, only extras are unfortunately scarce. Therefore: for lovers of British arthouse thrillers absolutely recommendable. But those who are more used to mainstream goods, might cut their teeth on this work

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp