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Sexy Beast (Ben Kingsley) (1 Viewer)

Joe McCabe

Second Unit
Joined
May 6, 1999
Messages
336
Ok, after hearing how amazing Kingsley's performance was in Sexy Beast, I went out and bought the DVD.
I watched it last night, and I think it's an *ok* film.
However, I find the hype around Kingsley's performance to be just that, hype.
Not that it was bad mind you. In fact I think it was very good.
Deserving of all the praise it's receiving? No.
I've heard people say that his portrayal of a gangster was better than Pesci in Goodfellas.
Get F'N real!!!
Again, he did a great job, and he nailed that style of British accent, (Although I'll bet some Brits will laugh at me for that statement :)) but rivals Pesci and Deniro??
I don't think so.
Am I alone in thinking this??
 

AdrianJ

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 1, 2001
Messages
532
I'd hope that Ben Kingsley could nail a British accent, since he is British.

From IMDB:

Birth name

Krishna Bhanji

Date of birth (location)

31 December 1943,

Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, UK

Trivia

Educated at Manchester Grammar School. ... (show more)

Sometimes Credited As:

Sir Ben Kingsley

Even though I found Sexy Beast to be an okay movie, I thought Ben Kingsley performance was outstanding. I definitely see him winning the Oscar for this movie.
 

Patrick Sun

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1999
Messages
39,660
I was so much more disappointed where the story went because if I'd known it was just going to be a character study, I'd be more favorable to the film, but as it is, I found it either way high strung (Ben Kingsley) or way low tensioned with the rest of cast. I think I gave it a B- or 2.5 stars when I saw it last year.
 

Joe McCabe

Second Unit
Joined
May 6, 1999
Messages
336
"I'd hope that Ben Kingsley could nail a British accent, since he is British. "

I was already aware of that. Which is why I wrote "that style" of British accent.

Isn't that accent called "cockney"???
 

Michael Reuben

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Michael Reuben
I've heard people say that his portrayal of a gangster was better than Pesci in Goodfellas.
Get F'N real!!!
It's a stupid comparison. Blame the people who drew the parallel, not Kingsley. The movies aren't comparable in any meaningful sense, and neither are the portrayals.
Goodfellas tried to present an overview of a certain segment of the mob at a particular point in history. It had colorful characters, but they were secondary to the overview of the world they inhabited. Sexy Beast, as Patrick notes, is a character piece (though, unlike Patrick, I think that's a good thing). The structure and operations of the crime organization are of little importance. What's important are the characters and their relationships, notably the "triangle" among Logan, Gal and Didi.
I think the film is a masterpiece of concision. So much about the characters and their history is conveyed in small gestures, glances and exchanges. You may not get the specifics of their life histories, but you can feel the weight bearing down. The entire cast is excellent.
M.
 

Mark Pfeiffer

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 27, 1999
Messages
1,339
Didn't you at least think he was funny? This is a really funny movie, primarily because of Kingsley. His scene on the airplane is one of the best in Sexy Beast.

I expect this thread is reflective of those people who are just now catching the film because they've heard all the hype. Typically I've found that if your expectations are really high, often a film or a performance fails to match.
 

Marc Colella

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 1999
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I thought that Ben Kingsley's was just amazing.

He commanded the screen without chewing up the scenery.

The film was very tight at 88 minutes long and was stylish without going overboard.

It was a great character study and Ray Whinstone deserves a great deal of credit for his performance.
 

TheoGB

Screenwriter
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Jun 18, 2001
Messages
1,744
You should see Jonathan Glazer's music videos - they're pretty fantastic. He's done some Radiohead ones but I'll have to check up at home to be sure about which. Possible also some Aphex and the UNKLE one...
 

Seth Paxton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 5, 1998
Messages
7,585
However, I find the hype around Kingsley's performance to be just that, hype.
To quote Kingsley...
"NO NO NO NO NO NO" :D
While the brevity of the story hurt it I think, it still hit top 20 status with me. I thought Ben was amazing and considered him an Oscar front-runner from the minute I left the theater.
After renting it for another view last week, I stand by this feeling. He won't win, but he deserves the nomination IMO.
I like that he was both dominate and violent, yet equally needy and pathetic, much like a true bully. In that way I can see the favorable comparison to Pesci in that Pesci seemed to be a similar mean but needy type, thus his aggressive reactions to anyone "questioning" his stature. Between the 2 I found Kingley to be the slightly more upsetting to watch, though both capture that experience of making you nervous just to be around them very well.
True "loose cannons".
 

chris c

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
206
Well, I loved the movie and Ben Kingsley's performance. Ray Winstone was great too (catch him in 'Last Request' if you can). Now, if my dvd would just arrive...DDD where are you?
 

Bob McLaughlin

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 14, 2000
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1,129
Real Name
Bob
Can anyone tell me why the movie is called "Sexy Beast"? Does it have something to do with the weird rabbit man?
 

Mikah Cerucco

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 27, 1998
Messages
2,457
, I find the hype around Kingsley's performance to be just that, hype. [...] Am I alone in thinking this??
No, you're not alone in thinking this. I'd been looking forward to this DVD since Roger Ebert first reviewed the movie. I didn't get to see it in theaters, so I bought the DVD sight-unseen. If I'd seen the movie, I wouldn't have bought the DVD. Neither the story nor the acting was anything special to me. As an actor, I'd take Ben Kingsley in other roles. Ben's "evil" character was more annoyance than anything else. Nobody liked him. And quite frankly, I didn't fear him. Pesci has done much better evil guys.
 

Paul_D

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Jul 28, 2001
Messages
2,048
The one question I have is:
At the end when Don says 'I love you'. Is he talking to Jackie or Gal? :D ;)
 

Vickie_M

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Joined
Dec 31, 2001
Messages
3,208
The one question I have is: At the end when Don says 'I love you'. Is he talking to Jackie or Gal?
I'm sure he was talking to Jackie, but he did love both Jackie and Gal. Part of his problem was that he loved, but couldn't express it because he'd never been loved and was pretty clueless about the whole concept. Everybody hated him and so he was like a petulant little bully boy. He revealed a lot of himself when he barked "Why should you be happy?" to Gal. The man doesn't know what happiness feels like and resents that anyone else thinks they know.
I love this film. I'm sorry I missed it in the theater, but I'll definitely buy the DVD after having rented it before the Oscars. I watched it once (and I admit, I turned the English subtitles on) then watched it again to listen to the commentary between the director and Ben Kingsley. Kingsley had some pretty interesting and perceptive things to say about his character.
I agree, though it's not exactly a comedy, there are some very funny bits in it.
And yes, Ray Winstone is great. I've been a fan ever since Ladybird, Ladybird, and then in Nil By Mouth he completely blew me away. His characters in Last Orders and Sexy Beast are fairly sedate, but he's still one of the finest actors out there. He hasn't made much of a splash in America yet, but I'll bet he will at some point.
 

Seth Paxton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 5, 1998
Messages
7,585
I saw it in the theaters but when I rented it on DVD I still had to turn on the subtitles at times.
I thought they were talking about painting the pool walls a different color, not coloring the water differently. :)
I really like Ray as well, he was solid with his low key performance.
 

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