London Boulevard

Opening in the UK today, screenwriter of The Departed, William Monahan, makes his directorial debut with multi-threaded Brit crime flick London Boulevard. Certain aspects of a films marketing set off warning bells for me, whether it be trailers that don’t seem to know what they are advertising or more obvious factors like not being screened for critics but another big one is when films only have trailers appear for them a few weeks before. This is not an exact science but when films seem to pop up very soon after the marketing has begun, it suggests that their distributors see them as throwaway, as product to get out there just for the sake of having something out there to earn them money.

This certainly happened with London Boulevard which despite a rather starry cast headlined by Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone, has only seen its marketing get out there over the last 3 weeks or so. This coupled with the fact that there seem to be very few, if any, reviews for the film out there on its day of release and the suggestion would appear to be that the film may not be one that the distributor wants seen by that many people before they can sell tickets.. Mitchell (Colin Farrell) has just been released from prison and wants to make sure that he never goes back. Instead of taking the advice of friend Billy (Ben Chaplin) to take up his old life but just not get caught, he decides instead to try and get some sort of legitimate work.

After a chance encounter where he shows that he may be good in a tense situation without actually throwing any punches, he gets an offer to become a handyman/bodyguard for reclusive actress Charlotte (Keira Knightley). His old life seems to want him back though and as he attracts the attention of crime boss Gant (Ray Winstone), Mitchell has to decide what he wants out of life as he juggles trying to get revenge for the death of someone close to him while also falling in love with Charlotte. Reading the above synopsis is not going to strike many as making the most original plot of the year this is fair to say, its something that you can see a variant of in any number of British crime films of the last decade and this is certainly problematic for London Boulevard but even with this it still hits as a film which at many intervals rises above the moorings of its derivative plot and becomes a genuine pleasent surprise of a film.

Much of this is down to the fact that screenwriter/first time director William Monahan knows that this is a FILM and not, as so many British directors seem to think their efforts are, a small screen affair. Perhaps I give too many points to British films which actually serve their remit of looking good but its something I happily do with London Boulevard which strikes immediately as a stylish and vibrant number which seeks to combine the grittiness of so many other films of its time with a 1960′s retro feel, complete with a cool and moody score by Kasabian member Serge Pizzaro, and an at times pop-art inflected visual sense which makes the film effortlessly stand out from the crowd and become something much more alive than virtually any other recently released Britflick. Monahan also knows how to amp up the dramatic stakes of the film and very much hides his first-timer status with what he makes on screen.

The trailer for the film seems to suggest a rather simple narrative involving Farrell falling for Knightley while trying to battle Winstone but the film itself takes on a great many more characters and subplots and while there is a sense that a little too much was left on the cutting room floor, the connective tissue between some of the plot elements feels missing certainly, the film does a surprisingly effective job of creating a world in which you feel Mitchell is going to have a really tough time getting away from and amazingly, through a combination of writing and performance he is a character who you do want to see get away and live a happy life. The tension racks up nicely through the course of the narrative as Winstone becomes more of a presence and he and Farrell get quite a few chances to square off against each other, some louder than others, and Farrell works well in equalling Winstone’s menace creating a few moments which, again, elevate above the material on offer.

This plot is indeed fairly derivative though, some of the elements play out exactly as you expect them to and the film ends with a conclusion that while it is reasonably effective on an emotional level, is also blindingly obvious early in. Saying this it’s played low key and uses nice visuals and little dialogue to get its point across. None of the characters are all that original also, the reluctant criminal, the slimey old friend, the troublesome relative, not one character really stands out on paper but it’s worth saying that Monahan gets good performances from all his actors. Farrell is likeable and yet constantly threatening, his character feeling like he can give in to darkness throughout but its a subtle and entertaining lead role here.

His chemistry with Keira Knightley works just about well enough and Knightley puts in a performance which seems fairly easy given the reclusive actress role for her to pull off though there is material here that feels rushed and cut to within an inch of its life, the plotting itself serving the larger narrative but not quite standing up on its own. Ben Chaplin is wonderfully pathetic and greasy as Mitchell’s increasingly douchey friend who wants to be a big guy but doesn’t have anything close to what it takes. Anna Friel has an odd role as Mitchell’s sister, another role that feels rather shut out by this cut of the film but she is straight up sexier than I have seen her be in a role in a while and she also has a fun subplot with Sanjeev Bhaskar’s seemingly corrupt but friendly enough Doctor character.

David Thewlis seems to have fun being Knightley’s character’s assistant, constantly getting stoned and having entertaining conversations with Mitchell. Finally, Ray Winstone does his usual threatening gangster stuff but to be honest if you are going to have this role in a film, who would you rather have? He’s perfectly decent here but surely he must be getting a little bored of this by now? London Boulevard is a film that may not strike for everyone. Its tale of cockney criminals trying to get power or get out is obviously nothing new but next to a myriad number of direct-to-video films of a similar nature, London Boulevard stands out through its classy direction and overall cracking performances. It’s not going to change the world but for a decent time at the cinema on a Friday night, you could do a hell of a lot worse. eatsleepfilms