44 Inch Chest

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta

By DAVID DAY

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Throughout our lyrical human repository, the tale of the gangster seems to never get old. In the ongoing translation of the myth, 44 Inch Chest is just another chapter, yet one that is entirely psychological and entirely well told.

You half expect it from the writers who came up with Sexy Beast, but add in newbie director Malcolm Venville and music from Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks), and it is less of a raw, modern fiction and more of a lucid dream. The film itself is simply a teleplay—a concise script of turn after turn—featuring some supreme acting talents; namely Ray Winstone (as Colin Diamond), John Hurt (as Old Man Peanut) and Ian McShane (playing Meredith).

The setup: Five older gangsters learn Colin Diamond's wife cheated on him. They kidnap the new boyfriend, rough him up, lock him in a wardrobe (44 inches across, one would guess) and debate what to do with the poor bastard. This happens for 90 minutes and the audience goes home. But here's the twist on our gangster mythology: The bereaved husband is a softy. He's a hopeless romantic, and while his four friends prod him to take action and beat this loverboy to a pulp, he cannot bear to do it. He loves his wife and wants her to be happy, despite actions to the contrary.

This kind of exposition would be a spoiler in any other review, but the cast alone makes it worth knowing. The aged Hurt, truly one of the most eccentric actors of his generation, is a crotchety criminal, prone to perfectly vicious lines like: "I wouldn't give her the pickings out of my handkerchief." As the mirror image of Hurt, Ian McShane (Deadwood) plays a dapper and delightfully gay roustabout more into taking advantage of people than straight-up robbing them. They go back and forth in a script that accompanies more monologues than a sophomore acting class, each directed in layers, whether as flashback, dream sequence or, in the most inventive turn, referencing the cinematic tale of Samson and Delilah as told by Cecil B. DeMille.

Which is not to say the script is void of deadly serious moments and heavy emotional impacts—but in the end, it transpires in a classic David Mamet-esque punch and counterpunch motive. How it all takes place with an unseen human in the room brings to mind Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and the repartee of the modern criminals is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

The dynamite supporting cast, with Tom Wilkinson (as Archie), Stephen Dillane (as the appropriately named Mal) and Joanne Walley (as the wife, Liz Diamond), could also be expounded upon (if only there was more room), but when the credits roll, the audience is left wondering which scenes were delusion and which were real. At one point, even John Hurt's Old Man Peanut character seems to be telling the story of John Merrick from The Elephant Man, perhaps Hurt's most famous role.

Once the drama of what to do with the boyfriend in the box has unfolded, it certainly leaves you wanting to see the movie again. Just like any great gangster tale should.

44 INCH CHEST
RATED | R
OPENS | 2.5.10