Thoughts on a genre
It occurs to me that not many people are aware of the genre of British film known as, "gangster pictures." In America, we really don't have much for this genre. It gets folded into "film noir" or "action" or in the case of Scorsese or Coppola, "drama." Quentin Tarantino is probably the only writer director that has managed to rival the British gangster style with his mainstream work, and even then only with two of his films (Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction).
While we here in the U.S. may have seen some stateside remakes of classic imports from Great Britain (Italian Job, Get Carter, etc.), these pathetic "reinterpretations" are no match for the current slate of imports that are actually of the genre made by the team of Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn.
To understand the appeal of this genre is to understand two problems that mainstream audiences have with the films when trying to view them: 1) the accents and the slang and 2) the complete lack of redeemable characters. These two complaints can be settled with the following rebuttals: 1) get cultured, you isolationist pricks and 2) welcome to the world of crime and criminals.
Given the fact that the actual concept of an anti-hero is lost on the mass audience, it doesn't seem to hard to grasp that they would have a hard time trying to figure out which character they're supposed to root for; trying to overcome the "lesser of two evils" approach to understanding. What should be kept in mind during the viewing of the British gangster genre is that, upon multiple viewings of the same type of movies, you'll begin to learn what is so fascinating about this particular type of film versus other action or dramatic pictures: criminals make better characters than cops. It's an unfortunate realization to come to in the current good vs. evil climate of world events, but, let's face it: the true depths of desperation and depravity that exist in the romanticized view of the gangster that was ingrained in cinema due to characters pioneered by American filmmakers during the forties and fifties. It has become slightly apparent that the British, while maybe coopting these archetypes, are almost taking them in new directions while American filmmakers are almost neutered to the idea of making a villain a protagonist.
That seems to be something that is lost in current crime drama, save for The Sopranos and the Shield on television, both of which are constantly under fire for there complete lack of "moral fiber" or "positive messages" from parent groups.
While viewing the latest offering from the U.K., Layer Cake, I was awe-struck at the level of depth given to the criminal underworld. It was almost a masterpiece of filmmaking... but then the reality sets in: you're dealing with characters that no one can support in a world populated by evil and the only thing you're hoping for is that the less-bad guys will be able to continue to profit from their dealings in drugs and violence.
If there is a more interesting two hours to be engrossed in, a genre more entertaining and stimulating, then please, speak up for that genre now. I don't think it exists in modern cinema.
posted by AmeroKafka @ 8:04 PM
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