My Writings

Pinkie is constantly between a rock and a hard place. Deeply uncomfortable with the path he is forcing himself down, he lacks self respect but seeks it from others - especially his own gang members, acting gang leader Spicer, and rival mobster Colleoni. On occasions we see his mask of invulnerability slip to reveal a scared kid - notably when he asks forgiveness from God when he thinks he will be murdered by a rival gang, hiding behind a groyne on Brighton beach. Pinkie fears death even more than he fears life. Rose (Andrea Riseborough), a shy, awkward and disaffected waitress at Ida's tearoom emporium becomes a material witness to the murder of Hale (Sean Harris), and is deliberately befriended by Pinkie in a bid to get his hands on damning photographing evidence.

Andrea Riseborough is excellent support as Rose, lovestruck and desperate for attention, fiercely loyal yet occasionally wilful - for example when she insists Pinkie makes a recording of his voice in a booth on the pier. This recording is used in the final scene, mirroring the ending of the original movie, but not the book. Greene's ending was even more bleak, but it is unlikely he would have too many other complaints. Setting the movie in 1964, the final year before the abolition of capital punishment, was an excellent decision, allowing the backdrop of violence between mods and rockers to add to the undercurrent of menace.