Bronson

Okay, let me explain what's going on. Netflix, our go-to source for most of the movies we want to watch, took Bronson off of their instant viewing list on the very day we were planning on watching it. Since it's not a very easy movie to come by, we decided to do something a little different this time around. I managed to track down a copy at my library and watch it. And so I'll be discussing it, here, right now, on my own. In the future, Mark will find a way to watch it, and then he can add his own thoughts to this post later on. However, just to make sure he stays busy, he has picked a film of his own to watch -- I believe it is called Outrage -- and he will be writing his own solo review on that. So even though we kind of fucked up, the reader is getting two posts for the price of one.

And here's Bronson.

Netflix: REGRETTABLY, NO LONGER

Michael Peterson starts out as your average teenager. Except not really. He likes to fight. He beats up his classmates. He throws desks at his teachers. And when the police come knocking, he's not afraid to leave them with a few bruises either. Naturally, he ends up in prison, where he can hone his skills as a fighter, and become Britain's most famous, violent, and expensive prisoner. Oh, and develop his alter ego, his "fighting name", Charlis Bronson.

How do I even begin to talk about this movie? Well, let's just take a look at the opening lines, read by Tom Hardy, as the title character:

"My name's Charles Bronson. And all my life I wanted to be famous. I knew I was made for better things. Had a calling. I just didn't know what as. Wasn't singing. Can't fuckin' act. Kinda runnin' out of choices, really, aren't we?"

Okay, so I'm not sure how exciting that quote is, out of context. But we know from the very first image -- that of Bronson, bald and muscular, staring at us -- that this is not your average biopic. It is not a story about the life of Michael Peterson. It is a story of the other guy, Charlie Bronson, who has been dormant in the mind and soul of Peterson since his childhood, and is finally able to take control during his years behind bars. Bronson is not a killer. He's not angry. He just wants to fight and to be famous. The film takes place almost entirely in prison, in Bronson's own cell.

Tom Hardy does a truly astounding job of transforming himself into his character. Which is something that British actors seem much more capable of doing than their American counterparts. How does Christian Bale go from his character in The Machinist to Bruce Wayne? Or Michael Fassbender in Hunger to Michael Fassbender in Inglourious Basterds? Here we have Tom Hardy, who can be a handsome, professional Brit in Inception, a tattooed Boston mixed martial artist in Warrior, or a masked mercenary bent on destroying Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises. From the second this movie starts, you don't even see Tom Hardy. You are instantly in the mind of Charlie Bronson.

I would not be the first one to compare this film to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. We have a similar setting: a prison in a dystopian England. In ACO it's a near-future as envisioned during the 1960s, and in Bronson it's the England of the 70's and 80's. Kind of the same thing, apparently. Similar protagonist: a guy who is completely deranged from the get-go, whose hyper-violent nature gets him hauled away.You want to hate him, and yet you are so entranced by his vicious and violent mentality that you simply can't look away. Even the styles are similar: the character that speaks to the audience is the one we see committing all these atrocious acts. He doesn't want us to understand, he's not trying to justify his behavior, he is just telling his story as he sees it. And from this we get a genuine glimpse at the madness simmering behind that deadly stare. And yes, all of this is true for both movies.

I have to wonder if director Nicolas Winding Refn didn't deliberately style his film like ACO. I'm sure a little research would give me the answer, but that's Mark's department. I'll just have to speculate.

In case you're wondering who Nicolas Winding Refn is, he is probably most known these days for Drive, with Ryan Gosling. What I love about his movies (I have only seen Drive, Bronson, and Valhalla Rising) is their unique and instantly memorable style. Bronson is told entirely from the point of view of Charlie Bronson. Even as he narrates about his childhood and how he likes to travel, we see him stealing from his schoolmates' jackets and wailing on his teacher. There are many times when, as you're watching it, you have to ask yourself 'what the hell is going on?' Be it his visit to his Uncle Jack's, his proposal to Alison, or his entire experience at "the funny farm", the movie is filled with strange and awkward moments that can be hilarious, cringe-worthy, or terrifying. And sometimes all three. The movie is violent, bloody, and shocking. Yet somehow endearing and beautiful.

Look, I don't want to go on and on about the film. I'll leave at least a little to the imagination. But please, if you take any movie recommendations away from this blog at all, let it be for Bronson. It has great acting, great direction, memorable dialogue, profound style and cinematography, and is just damn entertaining. If you like Drive and/or A Clockwork Orange, I bet you'll have fun with this one, too.

Oh, and I mentioned in the last post that I imagine this story as sort of an origin story for Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Let me know what you think about that in the comments. And, since I wouldn't be a good blogger if I didn't do this, here's a link to a post on my own blog, where I talk about Tom Hardy and Bane.