Don in "Sexy Beast" is played by Ben Kingsley. Almost 20 years ago, Kingsley once played Gandhi netting the academy award for a near perfect portrayal of the civilly disobedient Indian leader. Kingsley's Don strikes almost Gandhi-like poses (confident impeccable posture is a tell-tale) but is anything but passive, spewing out such vile that the audience laughs uncomfortably to break the tension. Don, you see, is still in the business. Don is not happy and will not let Gal be happy. Why should he?

      "Sexy Beast" is one of the most focused films I have seen in some time. It seamlessly glides from scene to scene taking us from Spain to England and back again without any dizzying effects. Jonathan Glazer whose only direction experience appears to be in making music videos (think cool neat fringe dweller band Radiohead) has injected a clever hippness into "Beast," with a fast pace punctuated with periods of pause around a pool in that quiet Spanish villa.

      "Beast" tells the story of a retired thief, Gal (Ray Winstone), and his former porn star wife, DeeDee (Amanda Redman), who are tormented by Don who has paid them a visit in order to enlist Gal in the latest job. The job is a special robbery of a bank or safe depository that is said to be uncrackable. It is the challenge that draws criminal mastermind Teddy Bass (Ian McShane) to the job who contacts Don to help him put together a team. Although the job is part of the movie reminding one pleasantly of Michael Mann's "Thief," this is a story of a battle of wills, Don's versus Gal's.

      Although Gal tells Don "no" many, many times and in many, many ways, Don will not accept it. Don's persistence is pervasive and unyielding and very real. We all know people like Don, hopefully not as violent, but people who cannot accept "no" for an answer. These people can be a buzz kill, and are trouble at parties. Kingsley's evil piercing gaze and schizophrenic behavior going from zero to sixty in a blink makes us want Gal to give in. It is quite a good piece of acting, accent, bad shirt, bald head and everything.

      Glazer takes time in "Beast" for quiet moments in Spain, environment all washed out white, lazy couples lounging playfully in the evening hours intoxicated and, yet, tragically sad as if hiding and running from a past that is bound to catch them eventually. I was reminded of "Professione:reporter" (English title "The Passenger") or even for some odd reason that weird painful Charles Bronson film "Cold Sweat." The quiet is interrupted skillfully by revving things up for a trip to England and the use of unusual hard-hitting music that may seem out of place but works accelerating the audience's anticipation for the action that follows.

      It is difficult to criticize "Beast" except that I had a problem with a dream sequence involving a rabbit/human, but these scenes accomplish the purpose of unnerving the audience. The rabbit/human is scary, its hairy half-rabbit half-human features are nasty, foreboding and will put off some viewers. Its presence in places in the film may be too much of a distraction, but is a forgivable indulgence.

      Still, "Beast" is slick entertainment with the kind of wit and mature humor that Guy Ritchie needs or that would have helped Steven Soderbergh's way too serious "The Limey." I could have watched more of Gal lounging by the pool baking that plump belly or dancing the night away partnered to his crystal blue eyed Deedee, and with friends like Don, retirement can never get boring.

Jonathan W. Hickman, 2001