Layer Cake (2004/2005)
Americans love British accents.
Americans love guns and gangster. Therefore, a film
about gun-totting British gangster should be a huge
hit in America. Witness the career of Guy Ritchie,
at least, before he married Madonna. "Layer Cake"
is the latest installment in this newly created genre.
And while it is quite good, it can't hold up to the
best of the lot: "Sexy
Beast." Still, it's good viewing. The best thing
about the film is that it doesn't really try to emulate
the others. While often bloody and brutal, the film
is much more interested in telling its story than
wowing us with flashy quick cut edits or loud guns
blasting. In fact, the standard Brit gangster, loud,
obnoxious and crude, is degraded here, and shown to
be not only idiotic but incapable of truly making
it as a "gangster." The character who shoots his mouth
off most loudly in the film is the first one to disappear.
This cool, professional, laid back
approach to the plot of the story is emulated in the
film's cinematography and score. The music in the
film is highlighted by a beautiful electronic score
by Ilan Eshkeri and Lisa Gerard that gives everything
a sort of cool, clean, modern feel. The cinematography
backs this up providing us with crisp, clean, well-lit
images that epitomize the coolness of the main character.
Daniel Craig is quite good as XXXX,
the unnamed protagonist who proves that a cool head
and a thoughtful approach to crime is truly the only
way to succeed. Craig, who I first noticed in "The
Mother," is one of the most interesting actors
to come out of Britain recently. With winning roles
in "Road to Perdition" and "The Jacket" as well recently,
how long can it be before he becomes a household name
here in the states?
"Layer Cake" is a thoughtful British
crime drama. And while, at first, the ending seems
obvious to anyone who has seen the recent "Ocean's
11" and the subsequent "Twelve" sequel, don't count
this film out until the very last frame. There's much
more going on here than just having fun while driving
fast cars and shooting rapid-fire machine guns. A
lot more.
Note:
Also with Colm Meany, Michael Gambon,
Sienna Miller, and Dexter Fletcher.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who
has acted in and produced some of Guy Ritchie's films.
Ritchie may have at one time been set to direct this
film himself.
The film debuted in the UK in October
of 2004, then played at Sundance in January 2005.
It has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for
an American arthouse release to begin in May of 2005.
Viewed at SXSW in March 2005.
