Perrier's Bounty
I had read about the film Perrier's Bounty somewhere, perhaps IMdB.com, and so I noticed the review in the New York Times. It is sort of a Guy Ritchie Rock'n'rolla-type film starring Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Sunshine), Jim Broadbent and Brendan Gleeson. The Times noted that these three can make something insubstantial into something substantial. So I hopped the A train and headed down to Greenwich Village to the old Waverly Theater, now the IFC Center.
I was the only one in the small theater. That is a first here in New York City. Like the Quad Theater, the films there seem to be projected digitally from a DVD, or possibly a Blu-ray disc.
As I expected, I enjoyed the film. Jim Broadbent as Murphy's dad is perfect. He first tells his son he is going to die of cancer, but we soon learn that he had a dream in which the devil sat at the end of his bed in a suit and told him that he would die the next time he falls asleep, so he spends the rest of the film trying to stay awake and acting recklessly, as if he didn't care. Gleeson plays the Irish mobster Perrier to the hilt, his red-brown wool long coat the color of his hair. There is a lot of violence, as with a Guy Ritchie film, but I liked it.
A reviewer from IMdB.com said:
I picked up on a couple of reviews of PERRIER'S BOUNTY in the daily newspapers and thought — that is worth a look over!! Good cast — Brendon Gleeson Liam Cunningham Jim Broadbent Cillian Murphy et al - and a story of the shady underworld inhabiting Dublin......drugs, guns, violence, dog fights and other such delights.
So today I packed myself off to the local multiplex and gladly bought my ticket.
The premise goes that Michael (Murphy) owes Perrier (Gleeson) a sum of money, which he hasn't got - two of Perrier's thugs tell him he has four hours to find the money - or he will have two bones broken. That sets him haring off to the local dive looking for The Mutt ([Liam] Cunningham), the local loan shark. The Mutt tells Michael he is short — but is doing a job that night and needs a third man ...
So starts a hectic forty eight hours for Michael as he has run-ins with his father (Broadbent), the girl in the flat below, her on/off lover, two sadistic car clampers, the local dog fraternity, the snooker hall drug pusher, the [cop]-dodging car thieves ... I could go on, mentioning the double-crossing and the underlying love story triumvirate.
Funny in parts but more chuckle-some than guffaws, the whole leaves you wanting more meat to chew over — there is not much to bring you in to the story completely. When it concludes —and I had a doubting question over the way it ends, up in the hills (not to give it away but there WOULD be repercussions after the fact) — it leaves you with a sense of it having just petered out.
I give this film a seven out of ten — the violence is gritty and realistic — Brendon Gleeson is a marvel! - but is bogged down by unnecessary plot angles and sidelines. A tighter script would have made this experience more enjoyable.
I, myself, might go as far as 8 out of ten.
Vampires
For some inexplicable reason I re-watched the film Twilight: New Moon. Maybe it is the energy of the young cast that I enjoy, having now been out of the classroom for almost an entire school year.
