MAY I HEAR OPINIONS OF MONA LISA, PLEASE?

This was a marvelous British film but Americans didn’t seem to take to it. Wonder why?

No real opinion as to why Americans didn’t take to it, but I love it. It’s a great film with one of the all time best headbutts in the history of film. Excellent.

Actually the film did quite well for a small British film. Bob Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar. I love the film. Great double bill with The Long Good Friday.

I like Bob Hoskins, but this film didn’t really stand out for me. Didn’t even really enjoy Michael Caine. there was kind of a cultural gulf now that I think of it. there was something about it that seemed like it would be more topical or prescient to British viewers. I think it was a lot of the class and race stuff, something about it seemed more specific to british society and it didn’t really translate. interesting, kind of want to go back and take a second look.

Mona Lisa, is a film that i’ve always admired. It some odd way I see Bob Hoskins as a Cosmo Vitelli type character for the British audience.
Could not agree more with Mr. Oerkfitz in regards to a double bill with The Long Good Friday. Two great films that have been a bit forgotten in the realm of things. I think Hoskins won best actor at Cannes for his role, or was at least nominated.

I would have loved the film if it weren’t for Robbie Coltrane’s character who I think distracted from an otherwise great plot, plus the ending was far too neat for my taste, I would have preferred it if it had ended while Hoskins was walking along the beach. But he ends up giving this tidy little summary that detracts from the story’s impact, like he’s completely disconnected from what happened and it had no effect on him.

The little film that could.

The Criterion release of Mona Lisa (and The Long Good Friday while they’re at it) could definetly use an upgrade.

i think she would look better with eyebrows(not a scorcese reference)

but all kidding aside bob hoskins was wonderful as always, yet not quite as good as he was in egoyan’s felicia’s journey.

I include MONA LISA on a shortlist with BUTCHER BOY and CRYING GAME as Neal Jordan’s best works to date. THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY is quite fine and if you like Hoskins in this you might also want to look at Dennis Potter’s “Pennies from Heaven,” the BBC miniseries from the late 70s. Very special, and he’s great here.

Good call, MMoore. As rewarding as Mona Lisa is, I think The Butcher Boy is an even-more-overlooked gem. Harsh and brutal and brilliant. The Crying Game, too – a film much better than its gimmick, with much to say about friendship and loyalty.

This is one of my all time favourite films. I saw it underage in London in November 1986 (I was 14). It’s a dreamlike or nightmarish vision of London’s underworld. Great use of London locations, especially the seedy Soho district, tempered by the “In Too Deep” song by Genesis. Hoskins performance reaches great heights when he confronts Simon on Brighton Beach and utters the immortal line of quiet desperation " you know the difference between men and fucking women". Just a great film on many levels.

It has elements of “Taxi Driver”, in terms of an anti-hero trying to vainly rescue a fallen woman. Cinematography, especially in the night scenes, has a lovely shade of neon to it. Who could also forget Michael Caine’s performance as George’s crime boss- a truly nasty piece of work. I don’t know what it is about prostitutes, but another movie “London to Brighton”, with similar tones of despair and nastiness, would play well with “Mona Lisa”, as it’s about two prostitues who escape to Brighton to get away from a sadistic pimp. Brighton might have a beach, but it still has an underbelly of crime and sleaze, just like most towns.

Thank you so much for these insightful responses.I had a friend who was studying cinematography in Paris at the time Mona Lisa was released. Every couple of days, sitting around their dorm, he and his classmates would go to the very, very tail-end of that film to watch the remarkable “swing-shot” of Hoskins on the pier. This involved intricate, collaborative use of a zoom lens, a “stedi-cam” and a (yep) baby carriage – the cameraman was in a baby carriage, wheeled around by an assistant. Worth the price of the DVD!