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A lot of
dross, with Berkoff being used to add a star name to poor
films. Often he is acting for one to two days
only. Charlie shows some good acting by Berkoff
(though the film is bad), the rest is
go-through-the-motions stuff.
A British comedy with two British business men trying to raise money from the Russian Mafia. Berkoff plays the Russian Mafia boss, Mr. Kant, described in the novel with "the way there was no gap between his desire and his actions, the sheer beautiful sight, of someone doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted". The first part of the film is quite funny and Berkoff is very good speaking only Russian. The film becomes boring and Berkoff cannot sustain the Russian and switches to English. Directed by Edward Thomas in 2000.
A group of actors stage The Tempest. Directed by Nick Cohen and James Callis in 2001, their first film. A funny film, though it tails off a bit. The actors look for a venue. Berkoff plays the owner of a strip club and he wants some culture downstairs and strippers upstairs. The directors say "you don't really direct [Berkoff] as such. He's a bundle of contradictions; one minute he's incredibly sweet and sensitive, the next he's biting your head off over nothing." (from Hotdog).
Bokshu: The Myth based on the Hindi novel Mriganthak. 2004. The director is Shyamaprasad: "The film is set in a village called Jaled, somewhere in the Himalayan valley. Two American anthropologists (Heather Prete and David Millbern), come to Jaled in search of their lost professor (Steven Berkoff). The film captures the adventures they encounter, as they meet the high priest of a temple ( Irfan Khan) and his beautiful assistant (Nandana Sen). The story eventually moves to its fantastic climax as the myth of Bokshu is revealed."
Steven Dorff stars and Gérard Pirès directs. A troubled film with a number of directors initially involved, and a number of titles (Heist, Hei$t, Riders, $teal, 2-11). Berkoff appears as a new-born preacher telling children of religion. But he is also a hit man. A gang of intellectuals carries out robberies, escaping from one on skates and another underwater. But when they get a secret hoard of bonds worth $20 million, the mob becomes involved use Berkoff to find the thieves. A good action film from 2002.
A coming-out comedy/mystery film. Berkoff is good as the gay queen- his entrance is spectacular. Fish from Marillion appears, along with various newcomers to film. The film had people walking out during the gay sex scenes when it was shown at Cannes. Hard to understand why, I would expect they would fall asleep watching the film. Written and directed by Lab Ky Mo in 2002. It was Mo's first film.
Berkoff acting the uncle, a villain of course, in a black comedy filmed in Ireland. Berkoff says "Well I play a rather eccentric character – who’s a kind of Glaswegian villain, living in Ireland, and he’s in the drug trade. And he has this nephew, who was a bit of an innocent, what do you call him? I don’t know... the prodigal son, and he’s got into a little bit of villainy and he thinks he’ll use his uncle to get into some quick money. So he comes to see his uncle, but his uncle is this lunatic, and they don’t realise what they’re letting themselves in for. So basically it’s a kind of an action caper, where I’m playing this guy called ‘Uncle’ who’s a bit of a kind of lad, you know". Directed by Shimmy Markus in 2004.
A film about London gangster Charlie Richardson who operated in London at the same time as the Kray twins. Luke Goss of pop group Bros stars as Charlie and Berkoff plays his father. Luke Goss is fine but not exceptional, and the film suffers from comparisons with The Krays, in which Berkoff also appears. This time Berkoff is soft-spoken and gives a good performance different from his usual henchman role. The real Charlie Richardson make a cameo appearance. Directed by Malcolm Needs in 2003. The direction is at times pretentious and dated, with poor spilt screen images.
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