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Steven Berkoff's film career revives with roles in major films such as The Tourist and The Girl with the Green Tattoo.
Josef Rusnak directs and Jesse Bradford stars in a confused story with little interest. The films starts with strange editing effects, presumably trying to come up with the unique editing of Easy Rider but failing. After about 20 minutes this editing style is dropped. The film links childhood memories with drug induced bravado. But it fails on all fronts and is pretentious and tedious. The two covers show it is another film the marketing department couldn't decide on- I doubt they watched the film to the end.
Berkoff has a more prominent role that in other films from this period, and is good in his role with a perceptive gentleness. He acts well. In the USA it is called Perfect Victims. 2010. Actresses Emily Hamilton and Eliza Bennett also appeared with Berkoff in Hans Christian Andersen and By the Pricking of my Thumbs respectively, and editor Peter Davies also edited Berkoff in Octopussy. The non-artistic credits include "taxi hire"- does this need to be credited? But the best name from the credits is stunt performer Nicolas de Pruyssenaere- his personal website is here.
The Big I Am, a British gangster story and a first film by director Nic Auerbach in 2010.
Stubbs (Phil Davis) is a gang leader and after a tip he plans to kill a rival gang leader.
The rival gang leader Barber (Vincent Regan) is beaten, tied up and bundled into a car boot to be taken away for execution.
Hapless Mikey Skinner (Leo Gregory), a small time crook, steals the car and unwittingly saves the Barber. The gang leader knows someone has betrayed him, but doesn't know who, so when he is arrested he makes Skinner, the only person he knew did not betray hum, the acting leader of the gang.
Liza (Beatrice Rosen) is the gangster's moll, but proves she is more intelligent than she lets on "If you want to be boss you have to dress boss".
Leo Gregory stars and Steven Berkoff and Michael Madsen are there to add some star quality. Madsen has a larger role but doesn't make anything of it, and Berkoff a small role (I guess one day's filming) as an auctioneer selling off trafficked women who will be forced to become prostitutes. In the credits his role is given as "Mc"- shouldn't it be "MC" for Master of Ceremonies? Robert Fucilla plays Floyd, and is also Executive Producer, Producer and Consulting Producer. William and Anthony Fucilla are Production Managers. Not difficult to work out why the film lacks edge. The film tries to be a Pulp Fiction, with interwoven strands of story and bursts of violence, but it only rarely rises beyond the tedious. "Somehow, the novice film-maker [Robert Fucilla] secured more than £1m from investors, assembled a solid, homegrown cast that included Phil Davis, Paul Kaye and Steven Berkoff, and in Michael Madsen- the psychopathic Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs- he even had a bona fide Hollywood name... Almost immediately, however, producer and director began pulling in different directions. 'I saw our film as a classic English gangster movie,' Fucilla says. 'The investors were happy because we thought it was more likely to make everyone some money.' Auerbach, meanwhile, 'had no intention of making another English gangster movie. For me, it was a coming-of-age drama about a young guy facing hard choices in order to become a man'… Then Michael Madsen arrived from LA. Wearing a bandana and full of unorthodox demands- such as insisting all costume department mannequins be turned to the wall lest he be spooked by the wigs- he was at first charming. But as the days went on, he became 'a handful', Ball says" (Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott Clark, The Guardian, 5 Dec 2009. click here).
All images from the film.
Drop Dead Gorgeous by another new director, Philip Alderton in a weak comedy about the fashion world. 2010.
A model Cynthia (Ivy Lethan) is chosen to model clothes for a multi-million fashion contract with fashion designer Claudio Vestigues, played by Steven Berkoff.
The top model dies just before a major campaign, but they decide to carry on using her body.
Steven Berkoff plays Claudio Vestigues, "She fell asleep modeling my clothes! Is she a critic?". The role is very similar to that in Another Nine and a Half Weeks.
The credits manage to spell Berkoff's name wrongly. The Director of Photography was Zoran Hochstatter and the Editor was Terry Blythe. All images from the film.
Just for the Record, directed by Steven Lawson in 2010, a mokumentary about the film industry.
Steven Berkoff plays the Director of Photography Mike Rossfery, though his character needs a manual to operate the cameras. His scenes are in an old folks home where he has retired. In the background an elderly man stands and moves forward on his zimmer-frame before collapsing and the nurses come to him. Berkoff continues to talk to the camera.
Other scenes show the executive producer in the bath with one of the actresses. The film does at times descend into Carry-On humour.
Actor Philip Davis worked on two other Berkoff films, The Big I Am in the same year as this film, and Transmutations in 1985.
All images from the film.
Steven Lawson directs Dead Cert, his second film in a row with Steven Berkoff, a vampire film with gangsters from 2010. The film fails for a lack of tension, characters who seem to be regulars of modern British crime films, poor effects and mediocre filming. Apart from that it is fine.
The gangsters take over q nightclub which we later learn was built on land sacred to vampires.
Kenneth Mason (played by Steven Berkoff) knows this and turns up to warn everyone but he is seen as an eccentric.
Kenneth Mason turns up at a funeral and again warns the mourners of the danger they are in.
Mason reveals all to Freddy Frankham played by Craig Fairbrass.
There are attempts at originality as the nightclub lights provide some interesting shots, but these don't really fit in the film.
Kenneth Mason is outwitted by the vampire and his crucifix is snatched from him and buried in his head.
Behind the scenes Berkoff having the cross in his skull effect applied. On the DVD commentary it is revealed Berkoff appeared in the film with three days notice as the intended actor had to pull out.
The film grinds to its end with the death of the
head vampire (who might be a werewolf).
The DVD cover states "You think you know vampires? Think again" but
in the film the gangsters are often called wolves rather than vampires.
The Director of Photography was James Friend and
the Editor was Jason de Vyea.
"There are some ideas in cinema that really
ought to guarantee fun. Vampires versus gangsters is one of them. Throw in
a nightclub full of strippers, some fantastically dodgy accents and a mad
old man who wanders around prophesying doom, and it sounds like prime
material for a Saturday night in. So how did Dead Cert get it so horribly
wrong?" (Jennie Kermode, eyeforfilm, 27 Aug 2010, click
here).
"The story really builds up everything, yet
there is very little actual action, even in the end of the film. One more
thing should be mentioned – the cover of the film mentions the word
“vampires”, while in the film, viewers are constantly told that “they’re
wolves”. Confusing, at least... Even more surprising was to see Steven
Berkoff in such film, and yet he shows his versatility by playing a
character completely different from the usual villainous types that he
takes in movies" (Tim Tal, BZ Film, 23 Oct 2012, click
here).
Berkoff has worked alongside a number of the actors before including-
Craig Fairbrass in the director's previous film Just
for the Record, as well as London Heist. Jason Flemyng in
PU-239 from 2006, Roland Manookian in Fanged Up (another poor vampire
film), London Heist and Riot
"The always excellent Steven Berkoff brings a touch of tradition to the
proceedings as the film’s naysayer (the one who warns of impending doom
that no-one listens to until it’s too late)" (Daniel Benson, Horror DNA,
23 Sept 2010, click
here).
All images from the film and DVD extras.
Steven Berkoff after a long pause
finally doing a major film, German director
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina
Jolie.
Timothy Dalton also stars- Berkoff previously worked with him on Sins, one of
the three Bonds Berkoff has worked with.
Interpol are surveilling Elise Clifton-Ward
(Angeline Jolie) hoping she will lead them to her lover Alexander Pearce
who owes more than £700 million in taxes. To put the police on a
false trail she picks up a tourist Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) who is the
same build as Pearce . Things get worst when mobster Reginald Shaw
(Steven Berkoff) also want to find Pearce who stole over $2 billion from
him.
The film is overlong but remains a good comedy-action film. There
are similarities with Hitchcock's North by North West, the story of an
innocent man chased by authorities and criminals with Jolie and Depp in
the Eva Marie Saint and Clark Gable roles.
The film is a remake of French film Anthony
Zimmer directed by Jérôme Salle.
Berkoff writes "Got an interesting call this morning
from a director with the fabulous name of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. He
wants me to be in his film The Tourist. It is very last minute but a reasonable
role. I am to play a cultivated, dynamic, unpredictable Russian gangster called
Ivan Demidov [the role was modified and was eventually not a Russian but called Reginald Shaw]. the film also stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Florian wants
me on the first available flight to Venice. the downside is I don't get to go
home first."
He also adds about Angelina Jolie "A major star does
not talk to you about your work. You talk to them about their work".
Conversely "Johnny Depp... arrived, unannounced and
came over at once. I told him I was honoured to be working with him and he said:
"No, I am honoured to be working with you. I have such respect for your work."
It was so unexpected. So real. Performing the scene was effortless for
him. It's like he isn't acting he is so relaxed. He doesn't have any schtick or
manner. He just comes in as himself. He is playful and funny. What a joy."
The quotes come from
here.
Berkoff the mobster is measured for a suit, pauses to strangle
someone with the tape measure, then asks if the suit looks alright.
Stuart Heritage wrote "here's Steven Berkoff
who, because he's Steven Berkoff, mistakes his character for a screaming
lunatic trapped at the bottom of a well" (Stuart Heritage, The Guardian,
23 Mar 2014, click
here) but it is a case of a reviewer writing what
he thinks sounds good (trapped at the bottom of a well - it actually
sounds like schoolboy pretension) rather than reviewing the film.
Actually Berkoff
has restrained menace throughout and provides a convincing performance.
The Director of Photography was John Seale and the editors were Joe
Hutshing and Patricia Rommel.
Best name from the credits is obviously director
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
All images from the film.
Berkoff back again with Spandau Ballet's Martin and
Gary Kemp (The Krays). This time it is DaVinci Code territory. The
first film for director William Steel. 2010.
Moving Target Mark Tierney directs his first film, Moving Target. Michael Greco and Jake Maskall from the British soap EastEnders star and Berkoff plays Lawrence Masters. Most of the other actors are newcomers. The film was originally called Naked in London and was filmed in 2004/2005 but has still to be released.
Big Fat Gypsy Gangster from 2011 with another first time director, this time Ricky Grover- the credits say "directed by Bulla", the name of his character. The title is a reference to a British television documentary series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings from 2010. The film was going to be called Bulla but it seems to have moved on.
Bulla (Ricky Grover) is released from jail...
...and Omid Djalili leads a film crew following Bulla.
Peter Capaldi is on form as the psychiatrist, himself close to violence. Like Berkoff it was probably a few hours work.
Steven Berkoff plays Guru Shahm, spiritual advisor to Bulla. He does his best but the role is so vacuous I wonder if the money was worth the humiliation of probably a few hours work. The Director of Photography was Gary Shaw and the Editor was Jason De Vyea. Lead actor and director Ricky Grover also co-wrote with wife Maria Grover who also acts in the film, and both are co-producers. Unless you are Orson Welles it is never a good idea to take on all these roles and remove any chance of creative feedback. The film ends with a voiceover "If you are wondering what this movie is about, don't. I have not got a clue either." Precisely. Reviewer Peter Bradshaw has a different view from mine on the film "this chaotic but often funny satire on sentimental East End geezerism... There's some breathtaking bad taste, and some big laughs (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 15 Sept 2011, click here). Best name from the credits- Flemming Jetmar. His website says: "Always in the service to the story, Flemming is a cinematographer with an acute attention to visual emotion and sensitivity. With over 20 years behind the camera he has lensed intimate character drama to action, his conscientious nature is always open for spontaneity by thinking bold, original and inventive. An important value which also reflects Flemming's low-key work ethic, is to create strong images that don't lose their power" (from his website, click here).
All images from the film.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the 2011 remake of a Swedish film and Stieg Larsson's novel by David Fincher with Daniel Craig (taking time off from James Bond) and Rooney Mara. Journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara)- with tattoos- investigate a disappearance years ago. A classy thriller which becomes darker as the film progresses.
Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a journalist who's reputation has just been destroyed by a libel suit.
Steven Berkoff plays Dirch Frode, an intermediary who introduces Blomkvist to the wealthy Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). A professional supporting role carried out convincingly.
Vanger offers Blomkvist a job, to investigate the disappearance 40 years ago of his grand-niece Harriet. Every year she would give him a pressed flower on his birthday. After her disappearance and possible murder the flowers would still appear, sent Vanger thinks by her murderer.
Hacker Lisbeth Salander, played by Rooney Mara, helps Frode uncover the truth. She is the girl with the dragon tattoo. "You can’t take your eyes off Rooney Mara as the notorious Lisbeth Salander... Slender, sheathed in black leather, with short ebony hair standing up in a tuft, her fingers poking out of black woollen gloves as they skitter across a laptop keyboard, Mara... cuts through scene after scene like a swift, dark blade. Salander is a twenty-four-year-old hacker with many piercings, of herself and of others. She’s both antisocial and intensely sexual—vulnerable and often abused but overequipped to take revenge. She lives in an aura of violence" (David Denby, The New Yorker, 4 Dec 2011, click here). "Tiny as a sparrow, fierce as an eagle, Lisbeth Salander is one of the great Scandinavian avengers of our time, an angry bird catapulting into the fortresses of power and wiping smiles off the faces of smug, predatory pigs... Her appeal arises from a combination of vulnerability and ruthless competence. Lisbeth can hack any machine, crack any code and, when necessary, mete out righteous punitive violence, but she is also... a lost and abused child" (A.O. Scott, New York Times, 19 Dec 2011, click here).
Daniel Craig was the fourth James Bond Steven Berkoff has appeared with, the other others being Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. Christopher Plummer and Berkoff worked together on a television filming of Hamlet in 1964. Cinematography was by Jeff Cronenweth and Film Editing by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall. Best name from the credits is Matti Rintala von Knorring, who behind the scenes is one of the Swedish carpenters. He has 35 movie credits according to imdb.com (click here). "If only more high-concept Hollywood thrillers were as supple, muscular and purely gripping. In less experienced hands, this would surely have wound up as lurid, trashy pulp. Yet Fincher plays it straight and keeps it serious. He brings a sense of space and rough edges to a machine-tooled plotline that bounces us remorselessly from clue to clue. He makes us care about Blomkvist and Salander as they rattle over the island and through the corridors. The route leads them past Nazi skeletons in the closet and arcane references to the Old Testament – all the way down the steps to the basement. Sooner or later, films like this one always wind up underground, in the basement. It's where the secrets are buried, the lights are turned on and the tale turns infernal." (Xan Brooks, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2011, click here).
All images from the film. |
