On Seeing Brighton Rock for the First Time

Published in 1938, Brighton Rock became the novel that Graham Greene would be remembered best for. By 1947 the book had been adapted into a feature film staring Richard Attenborough in the lead role as Pinkie Brown and directed by John Boulting. An adaptation of the book, not a remake of the film is how Rowan Joffe (writer and director) describes his Brighton Rock. With Joffe’s adaptation as first exposure to Greene’s story, it is unlikely to earn it any more fans. Brighton Rock is not an enjoyable film and the fault appears to lie with the script and direction.

This is Joffe’s first feature film as a director, yet his work on other films as a writer suggests he should understand narrative and character development better than he displays here. (Joffe adapted The American. See 2^nd December 2010). Our main characters are Pinkie and Rose. We meet Pinkie (Sam Riley) as the lower rung of a gang. With three other gang members ahead of him, Pinkie is used as a pick pocket. In the first instance we witness him attempt to intimidate, he is easily emasculated and obviously scared. It is therefore confusing when we next meet Pinkie and he has decided to become the gang leader and has somewhere found a confidence and level of violence that usually take years to acquire. Even stranger is the previously hardened gang leader’s willingness to acquiesce his leadership and be bullied by Pinkie. The other two gang members also inexplicably fall in line behind the now unpleasant Pinkie.

Rose (Andrea Riseborough) is the hapless, unknowing target of Pinkie’s, whom he decides to keep close rather than kill. Again, this goes unexplained; he kills at other times. Rose, who we meet as a shy waitress, is immediately taken by Pinkie despite his clear lack of interest in her. In fact, the direction that Riley is given (to permanently look angry) makes it utterly incomprehensible that Rose would continually refuse to see Pinkie’s true motives, despite his clear hatred of her; she even marries him. Essentially, the relationship between Pinkie and Rose, the key characters of the story, is completely unbelievable and the lack of and seemingly illogical character development is frustrating. Unfortunately this lack of attention to character and narrative defines every character and most scenes. It appears that Joffe has taken his favourite aspects of the book and put them on screen without any consideration for those new to the story. It does not help that Joffe is a heavy handed director without any awareness of subtlety. Thunder crashes and lights go out as bad news is delivered; the religious aspects are not so much embedded into the story as thrown on screen as cheap symbolism.

There is clearly a strong narrative here. Greene’s book would not have endured so long if there weren’t. The cast is also strong. However, any elements of suspense, danger or believability are drowned out by incoherent film making.