Bronson review

"Intelligent, funny and charismatic"

Probably 3 words you wouldnt usually lend to a man who has spent 32 years in solitary confinement. However, leading actor Tom Hardy would argue otherwise...

Bronson is a tour de force of a lost soul searching for self-expression

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is best known for his breakthrough Pusher trilogy –. His first British film, Bronson, takes an equally oblique look at the man billed as ‘Britain’s most notorious criminal’.

Charles Bronson, born Michael Peterson, adopted the name of the hard boiled hollywood star (famous for death wish) because his fight promoter thought it sounded suitably tough. He was originally sentenced to seven years for a armed robbery in 1974, when he was 21. But his tendency to beat warders to a pulp , fellow-inmates and anyone who jangles his nerves has kept him in jail ever since – barring two brief periods of freedom totalling about four months – and in solitary for 30 of those 34 years.

While in jail ( dubbed a hotel room) he developes into a talented artist, so Refn takes the hint to treat his whole life as an extreme display of performance art. Bronson narrates – sometimes in voiceover, sometimes on his stage before an somewhat spooky audience, retelling his exploits with a series of punchlines, film and acting.

Bronson inspires equal reactions of fascination, discust and repugnance. You might be sat there hating his guts, but the charasmatic Hardy will makeit impossible to look away.


Bronson is clearly more beast than man, switching between sweet compliance ( His short lived romance with a hairdresser) to illogical rage ( holding the librarian hostage) .


Verdict
Not a generic hollywood churn out. Once you get used to the direction, layout and art. The film is easier to follow, some parts are pure lunancy, some confusing and others darkly humourous. It took a few hours to sink in and properly appreciate it. Bronson will be disgarded by some. But a cult figure to many.

Trailer

3/5