If you've never visited the seedy interior of London's Elephant & Castle, and more particularly one of the violent council estates therein, you'll never need to after watching Daniel Barber's distressing debut feature. Starring Michael Caine in one of his finest performances (BAFTA anyone?), Harry Brown is like an extreme episode of The Bill written by Clint Eastwood and filmed by Steve McQueen: elegant, beautiful, frightening.
Here is a film of two parts; Harry the Lonely Pensioner and Harry the Angry Fixer. The first is a sublime backgrounder which zeroes in on heart strings of loss and loneliness; the second is a gruelling account of extraordinary violence as matters force Harry to take corrective measures of his own. Shortly after loosing his wife, Harry looses his best mate, savagely killed by thuggish louts that rule the run-down estate of tower blocks. Worse, they nonchalantly video the carnage on a mobile phone. Twisted by anger, loss and marine training, Harry gets dirty.
Barber brings an inspired touch to a not unfamiliar setting (Ken Loach has long opened up the grim reality of council estates), that with Caine’s knockout restraint gives the material a fresh and exciting patina. While the transition from button-downed old-geezer to dangerous vigilante is troubled by a surreal landscape of gunned-up dealers, the film snaps back to shape as Emily Mortimer’s stout police officer gets on Harry’s case. The story echoes Gran Torino in scope, but remains an entirely British production down to the final, gritty frame. Not that Caine and Barber leave much time for such comparisons – Harry’s got you by the neck and he’s not letting go.
// COLIN FRASER
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