MUBI

Biopic du plus célèbre prisonnier d’Angleterre et film présenté comme étant le “Orange mécanique” du 21ème siècle, Bronson a le don d’intriguer.
En réalité, il s’agit d’un biopic un peu faux qui s’intéresse surtout à la violence de notre société. Derrière on retrouve Nicolas Winding Refn, un cinéaste tout plein de talent. Et il le confirme.
Il n’y a pas de doute, la comparaison entre Bronson et Orange mécanique est loin d’être flatteuse. Il y a du Kubrick chez Refn. D’ailleurs, l’aspect spectacle et théâtre, avec une volonté d’avoir un personnage rempli de second degré et amenant énormément de distanciation quant à la violence visuelle rappelle Kubrick.
Refn s’attarde à démontrer la violence d’un personnage, violent parce qu’il aime ça, parce que c’est le moyen pour lui de le faire connaître. Face à cette violence, la violence de la “société” carcérale, où les punitions se font de plus en plus dures tant physiquement que psychologiquement au fur et à mesure que Bronson s’entête dans sa propre violence.
Face à cette violence, un personnage rempli de second degré et une mise en forme particulière qui font qu’on a de la violence, mais qu’on est jamais choquée par celle-ci. Refn aime ce sujet, mais ce n’est pas pour autant qu’il aime la violence. Les bagarres sous fond de musique classique ou de fête offrent un joli contraste.
Bronson, c’est aussi un personnage en mal de célébrité et qui veut arriver à être reconnu. Et par n’importe quel moyen. De cette manière, l’écho à notre société moderne est présent. C’est aussi un personnage rempli de bons sentiments. Comme dit, ce n’était ni un mauvais élève, ni un mauvais bougre étant gosse. Il aimait juste la violence. Bronson, c’est un gars avec des bons côtés et évidemment des mauvais. Ca aurait pu être lui comme un autre qui sombre ainsi dans la violence dans le but d’être reconnu. Peut-être manque-t-il de profondeur sur le profil psychologique de notre ami Bronson. Mais toujours est-il que le vrai Bronson doit être ravi dans sa cellule. S’il avait tellement envie de cette célébrité, il l’a désormais acquise hors Angleterre.

http://travissaves.blogspot.com/2012/03/cinema-of-nicolas-winding-refn-part-2.html

‘Bronson’ is a film I’m still conflicted about. I guess its not as disappointing as I use to think it was but its still over-hyped. One of those movies that falls in to the ‘Fight Club’ category where you cant just simply “like” it. You have to think its the greatest thing ever. ‘Bronson’ tells the story of real life celebrity criminal; Charlie Bronson (not to be confused with the actor). The movie takes us from his birth to the present day where Bronson is still a prisoner. Through out the movie we follow his violent history from the bank robbery that landed him in jail for the first time, to his stint at a mental hospital for the criminally insane, to his brief release from prison where he became a bare knuckle fighter and then right back to prison. ‘Bronson’ was dubbed by some critics as; “A Clockwork Orange for the 21st century”. At first glance i could see why someone would make a statement like that. The narration in ‘Bronson’ IS reminiscent of clockwork, both Charlie and Alex have a charmingly evil personality and Refn is also clearly influenced by the Stanley Kubrick “glare” shot. But a comparison to ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is pushing it. ‘Bronson’ isn’t as explosive and action packed as it was made out to be by critics. It also plays in to that cliche crazy British tough guy stuff that we’ve already seen Ray Winstone, Tim Roth and Gary Oldman play back in the 80’s. We get it already, British guys are tough. Stop trying so hard to prove it in movies. But people love angry, violent, bald headed white guy characters so I can see the appeal that ‘Bronson’ has to some. Valid points have been made about the film by credible people but I cant fully get in to it. If you’re a fan of British gangster/tough guy movies (the krays, football factory, the firm, etc) chances are you’ll like ‘Bronson’. And even with all of my criticisms I still own this on DVD for some reason and feel the need to watch it from time to time yet I don’t fully understand why. There’s a lot of unexplained elements and indescribable feelings that come along with Nicolas Refn’s work. I can write about all of his films and tell you why I like his work and blah blah blah, but there’s always that element I cant fully explain or convey through words. Like ‘Valhalla Rising’, Refn does a great job of creating a tense, violent and aggressive vibe almost like you’re inside Bronson’s somewhat deranged mind or trapped in a prison cell with him.
My biggest beef with ‘Bronson’ has to do with the fact that like I have a problem praising shitty human beings or calling them “cool” (and lets not kid ourselves, part of this movie’s purpose was to make him seem cool). I guess its kinda harsh to call the man a shitty human being…or is it?? I get the feeling that so many people have had the wool pulled over their eyes about who Charlie Bronson is (which is strange because all the information is right there in front of us). Its not like Refn leaves out his criminal history and his childish nature to just start trouble and act crazy for the hell of it. Refn throws in all those interludes and comical moments that make Bronson out to be this funny, charming, awesome guy (like Eric Bana’s performances as real life Australian tough guy; “Chopper”). Once again, maybe it comes with age and my growing intolerance for the kinda violence and characters in films by Tarrantino or a lot of modern Japanese directors in the same vein as Takashi Miike. I know Charlie Bronson is a cult figure among people in the UK but he’s a still a violent bully with no real reason to be the way he is (in the film he even states how he came from a normal family and had a good home life). Now this does kinda contradict many other movie characters and performances that I’m a fan of but at the same time those characters are fictional. Charlie Bronson is a real person. Tom Hardy’s lead performance makes things even more conflicted because no matter how much I don’t like the subject or praising non-fictional bad people, he really did transform in to Charlie Bronson. And not just physically. I’m talking about everything from his manner of speech to his actual face. The Tom Hardy in ‘Bronson’ is a completely different person than the Tom Hardy we see in ‘Inception’ or anything else he’s been in. Hardy’s charming performance is also what clouds who Bronson really is to the viewer. ‘Bronson’ is filled with plenty of images of his big childish grin which is one of the reasons that makes him so likable to some people.
Also this film not only brought Tom Hardy to international fame, but it quickly became a new-age cult hit and got Nicolas Refn more exposure. He went from being nearly bankrupt (thanks to ‘Fear X’) and having to make two more ‘Pusher’ films that he really didn’t wanna do, to becoming a minor crossover director with ‘Bronson’. Had ‘Bronson’ not been made then he may not have had the opportunity to make ‘Drive’. I’m happy that a director like Nicolas Refn with his kinda style is slowly making the transition in to the mainstream. In my opinion his work isn’t meant to be seen on small art house screens like the film forum or cinema village (no offense). I guess you could look at Valhalla and Bronson as his early attempts at “mainstream” movie making which eventually turned in to a success with ‘Drive’. I don’t love ‘Bronson’ but I respect it.

Puo’ piacere o meno questo film di Nicolas Windindg Refn, regista danese del quale conservo estaticamente la trilogia di “Pusher” nell’armadietto delle cose preziose, ma di sicuro non puo’ lasciare indifferenti.
Una storia apparentemente semplice, il percorso lineare di un uomo che fin dall’adolescenza trova nella violenza (sugli altri, sulle autorita’, ma soprattutto su sè stesso) il modo per sfuggire alla banalita’ ossessiva che si gli prospetta come unico orizzonte di vita.
E decide di spendere la propria vita, volente o nolente, in gran parte nelle prigioni di sua Maestà.
Una maschera tragicomica, che si presenta come un imbonitore da quattro soldi e ci fa l’occhiolino mentre viene trascinato via verso l’ennesima punizione, che coltiva improbabili baffi a manubrio come unico segno distintivo di una personalita’ scomparsa dietro la presenza imponente e ossessiva del corpo.
Ed e’ proprio il corpo il punto focale del film, il corpo seminudo, unto, sanguinante e sfregiato, oppure ingabbiato in anacronistici vestiti.
Il corpo del reato, della rivolta e della sconfitta. Il corpo come unico mezzo di scambio della societa’ capitalistica (massi’, diciamolo!), che dal corpo richiede bellezza e forza per essere vendibile e sfruttabile, ma anche sottomissione e docilita’.
Quando Bronson, il nostro protagonista, decide di eliminare questi ultimi parametri dal suo rapporto con il potere, ecco che interviene la repressione. Che stringe d’assedio la mente di Bronson e deride la sua acerba spiritualita’ (ben rappresentata dai suoi primitivi e inquietanti tentativi di creazione artistica), fino a lasciarlo solo sul palcosenico come all’inizio del film, riducendolo a un muro di carne sul quale si abbatte tutta la potenza di fuoco di chi il corpo lo vuole cosi’, prigioniero e incatenato fino all’immobilita’ piu’ totale.
Solo apparentemente goliardico nella sua “ultraviolenza”, e fantasioso solo in apparenza.
Infatti Michael Gordon Peterson (alias Bronson), e’ tuttora incarcerato.
Ha passato 34 anni in prigione, di cui 30 in isolamento.

Que se nos viene a la cabeza al ver una pelicula como la Naranja Mecanica en l cual vemos Violencia , Jovenes incomprendidos es raro sentir tantas emociones pero se nos vienen distintas emociones , distintos recuerdos , y quizas soluciones en ultimos casos , metodos insignificantes para jovenes con tanta violencia dentro y con tanta incomprension de la sociedad , cambiarlos seria el camino mm?? . Yo creo que no entenderlos mas que nada , pero como esto no es un analisis filosofico ni un analisis de la sociedad , llegaremos al punto crucial , Bronson y su absoluta locura y su absoluta violencia pero tambien su absoluta inocencia .
Que nos da este mundo , que nos va entregando a traves del tiempo este mundo vemos en TV violencia , escuchamos violencia , conoces alguien y se no te cae bien le escupes en la cara violencia y dia tras dia esto se hace eterno una historia de nunca acabar .
Viendo esta pelicula lo primero que se nos viene a la mente es la historia de LA NARANJA MECANICA por lo menos a mi paso eso , pero empiezas a ver mas alla y te encuentras con muchas mas sorpresas ves detalles como ese afan del ser humano de buscar el reconocimiento de buscar la forma de ser amados , Bronson un ser humano especial con defectos y virtudes mas con algo de incomprension de la sociedad hacia alguien que busca el reconocimiento , una carcel lo detendra no lo hizo para nada , viendo cada monologo uno ve esa faceta de el del reconocimiento y hace de esta pelicula algo aparte , casi una pieza teatral traida al celuloide , me recuerda mucho el estilo de STHEPEN DALDRY en las horas por pasajes .
La actuacion de TOM HARDY una de las mejores de ese año , explotando y sacando todo su potencial en cada segundo , con una retencion de sentimientos y con explosiones momentaneas que dejan a uno descolocado , recordandome a ratos a un manicomio lleno de locos , yeahh .
Vivimos en una sociedad de la cual los hombres buscan la felicidad de alguna forma y ver esta movie te da detalles de que perseguir sueños , con locura y con un caracter de extrema locura buscarla te puede golpear con una extrema violencia .
Una pelicula que llega con una puesta escena de TOM HARDY genial con un guion suavemente violento , y con sutilezas en lo visual y en lo teatral geniales . Realmente me agrado verla y saborearla venla para que sus pupilas sean participes de un espectaculo de violencia den un dictamen a esta gran pelicula .

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of the famous British prisoner named after the actor Charles Bronson, and this movie isn’t so much a bio-pic as it is a dark, unique, gross out examination of a psychotically violent dude whose jollies include getting beat by prison guards and fighting, fighting, fighting. Shades of other prison movies, especially “A Clockwork Orange” and “Chopper”, are visible in Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s violent, and sometimes comedic film, with a decidedly post-modern visual treatment, filled with New Wave songs from the 70’s and 80’s to enhance the ironic flavor. The major problem, and it can’t be ignored, is actor Tom Hardy, who is over-the-top, even for a performance that has to be, and Bronson comes off less as a comic anti-hero, or a lifer screwed over by the system (ala Alex in ‘Clockwork Orange’), but as a purely violent psychopath with no personal reason for his actions or psychological reason for demeanor, and without the character study, the film’s only saving grace is the mise-en-scene, and thankfully it’s good enough to pass.

Michael Gordon Peterson is the kind of guy that begs to have his story told, no matter how loosely or non-factual. Known as Britain’s most violent criminal, as well as by the alias Charlie Bronson based after the actor, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for armed robbery of a post office. Thus far, he has spent thirty-four years incarcerated—thirty of which were in solitary confinement. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson depicts this intense creature made up of pure aggression, portraying his insanity and strange sort of odd compassion. All that time in jail and he never even killed a person, although he did come close at least once. Instead, Bronson stages kidnappings of guards in order to draw in more to fight, finds himself locked in a drug-induced stupor at a mental institution, warring underground in an illegal boxing ring, as well as performing a vaudeville act of his life to an audience that exists only in his head. The film is highly entertaining in its orchestration, allowing star Tom Hardy to give a performance that can only be described as tour de force.

For a film that appears to have every making for a somewhat boring construction—how many times can we really watch a man provoke, beat up, and get beaten before wondering if anything new will happen—Hardy never allows it to reach that point. On screen for the entire duration, Bronson’s portrayal is magical in the sense that this man is high-energy spitfire his whole life. Even in the fantasy stage world of his mind, he will erupt with rage when the audience’s reaction isn’t what he desires. Never afraid to show his theatrical chops, Bronson paints his face for comedy, reenacting moments between himself and a hospital doctor by dressing up each profile as one or the other, as well as stare at the camera in pitch-blackness, his body illuminated in order to tell us his story in monologue. And through it all, the one constant is the creepily ecstatic smile that forms on his face when he recalls the happy memories of violence and rage.

Peterson always wanted to be famous—a celebrity. With a childhood full of fighting and abuse, one instance shown as he manhandles a teacher at the age of thirteen, throwing a desk on top of his prone body lying on the ground for good measure, everyone knows he’ll end up more infamous than anything else. His mother is completely oblivious to his obvious mental break, coddling him and never listening to the authorities that regularly bring him home. He eventually marries and has a child, but it is more a convenience than a union of love. While she takes care of the baby, he is in the other room sawing the barrel of his shotgun, readying for the crime that finally puts him behind bars, giving that first taste of home he so loves. Jail is not cruel and unusual for him, no, it is a hotel room for which he may hone his skills and improve his weapons. No matter how cramped or small the cell, he finds a way to workout and get stronger, mentally practicing the moves that Charles Bronson makes in the movies. It is all practice for when he feels the need for a little enjoyment; talking back to the guards, holding them hostage, or just being plain belligerent and uncooperative, he never has trouble finding a sparring partner inside.

I really have no idea how much of what’s depicted is actually true, but it doesn’t really matter. Some incidents are so obscene and crazy that their relevance to fact is of little importance when compared to the entertainment value of it all. Who doesn’t want to see this violent sociopath serve tea, all proper-like, to a jail guard and an effeminate inmate? Or watch him fight in his boxing ring, pummeling his opponents and then turning to face the crowd with smiles and hands raised while the other guy gets up to hit him? He is a child playing a game and loving every single minute of it. It doesn’t take much to spark his temper, nor does the prospect of freedom make him want to be a model citizen. He attempts to kill a man in the insane asylum so that he could be put back in prison. Bronson revels in this world of darkness and solitude as a battleground to escape from his own mind. He is a criminal that has done nothing but cause mayhem and loss of money to the government, yet his cultural figure shines bright. Becoming an artist inside, his creative outlet just breeds more violence, no matter the fact he has had works published in real life, even winning awards.

Again, though, the story alone wouldn’t make a great film, that success lies in the hands of Hardy and Winding Refn. Right from the opening, the movie shows that it won’t be your usual biography piece. In a scene of pure aggression, we see a bloodied Bronson pacing in his cell in close-up, practicing his jabs, and waiting for the guards he knows are coming. With music blaring on the soundtrack, the assault begins as we see him battle four men on his own, smiling the entire time, before the film title stamps in frame, transporting us back for Hardy to explain how it all began. Bronson is a very beautifully shot work, despite its hellish subject matter, always using interesting camera angles and tricks, delineating each environment depicted, whether the outside world, jail, the hospital, or his mind, both inner-monologue and stage show. And Hardy is absolutely brilliant as this madman wreaking havoc. He is so likeable charismatically that you begin to want to see him beat the next man to a pulp, if only to hear his account or reasoning or just to see that mustached grin light up his crazed face. Naked for much of the film, painted up for some, and insanely manic for the duration, Hardy throws himself into the role completely, crafting this caricature of a very sick man. But then, who knows? Maybe the character is more like the real person than we’d want to believe.

Bronson 8/10

http://jaredmobarakreviews.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/bronson/

Although an impressive performance by Tom Hardy, Bronson lacks character development. Nothing is explained about his nature, reasons, or goals. They even tried going for the ‘alter ego’ thing, but then they never show his other ‘side.’

Astounding cinematography aside, the movie persists on shock value over storytelling. The movie is basically a sequence of events, on a chronological order, but they aren’t really connected and in the end it all seems pretty pointless.

Also, I have to make a point about Bronson’s sadism, without any statement about violence, certainly not against it. Comparisons to A Clockwork Orange are insulting and undeserved.