Sexy Beast (2000)

	Directed by: Jonathan Glazer	COUNTRY United Kingdom Spain GENRE Crime/Black comedy NORWEGIAN TITLE Sexy Beast RUNNING TIME 88 minutes
	Produced by: Jeremy Thomas
	Written by: Louis Mellis David Scinto

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Gary 'Gal' Dove	Ray Winstone
Don Logan	Ben Kingsley	½
Teddy Bass	Ian McShane
DeeDee Dove	Amanda Redman	½
Harry	James Fox	½
Aitch	Cavan Kendall	½
Jackie	Julianne White	½
Enrique	Álvaro Monje	½

Review

Among the several British gangster/heist films that emerged around the turn of the millennium, this little fireball has arguably held up better than most. The director was the 34-year-old first-timer Jonathan Glazer – later of Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest fame – and he brought a burst of creativity and an instantly recognisable personality that make Sexy Beast an enticing, multi-faceted customer, even today. The film has a distinctly late-1990s/early-2000s look, with its gritty lighting, grainy images, and occasional fast editing, but it couples this with a timelessness in both themes and care for its characters. Well, care for its protagonist, Gal (Ray Winstone), who experiences to the fullest extent the difficulty of leaving a life of organised crime behind when his former colleague, the very abrasive and persuasive Don (Ben Kingsley), comes calling in order to lure him back in for one last heist. Kingsley is scarily effective as the tyrannical Don. He's an explosive package of cockney rhymes and simmering brutality, and you just can't stop watching him with a certain awe and glee. There are also strong performances by Ian McShane as the enigmatic crime boss Teddy Bass, as well as by Winstone in the lead.