It might not be on your radar yet, but in cinephile circles, one of the most exciting releases of 2009 is Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson,” a hallucinogenically stylized and theatricalized look at real life British prisoner “Charlie Bronson,” nee Michael Peterson, one of the most notorious U.K. detainees of all time who was supposed to spend a simple seven years behind bars for an attempted robbery in 1974, but has ended up spending 35 of his 57 years incarcerated because of various prison guard attacks, instigated riots and escape attempts.
It’s interesting to note that for the Danish director Winding Refn (the director behind the excellent and haunting viking film, “Valhalla Rising,” due next spring and the auspicious, “Pusher” crime trilogy), “Bronson,” was actually a project that was brought to him after the fact and one he didn’t develop.
One of the producers of the film who approached him to direct told the New York Times this weekend, “It was interesting that Nicolas knew nothing about Bronson,” Mr. Preston said. “He was able to look at the character without any preconceptions at all.”
In fact, since Winding Refn came to the project late and lead actor Tom Hardy was already on board and had been preparing for months something much more realistic and less operatic and stylized, the two butted heads. “He got right up my nose. You have to roll up your sleeves when you work with Nic,” Hardy told the Times. “We had a good old wrestle.”
In fact, much less of a traditional prison film, the filmmaker turned the genre on its head delivering something much more austere, hypnotic and wonderfully strange. The picture is actually more of an examination of demented identity and how a lost, young man finds his true calling as a career criminal in prison. Winding Refn sees it as another form of crying for attention. “The one thread that goes through everything he does is the narcissistic need for fame,” he told the Gray lady.
Meanwhile, no soundtrack for “Bronson,” looks to be released in the U.S., but music is an integral part of the film and a soundtrack was released in the U.K. earlier this year. Heavy on the grandiose opera, which lends the picture a very absurdist and creepy tone (very reminiscent of the detached works of Stanley Kubrick), the film also features songs by The Walker Brothers (Scott Walker’s original group that he reunited with in 1978 for one more album that turned out far stranger and disconcerting than the other two imagined), the Pet Shop Boys — the house-pop ’80s duo that Winding Refn once considered for composing the entire score — and New Order (plus an awesome pulsating electro-like score that we can’t seem to find the composer’s name of; we had it written down when we saw the film ages ago).
Anyhow, if you’re dying to know. Here’s what’s on the U.K. “Bronson” soundtrack. If you didn’t watch it yesterday, you need to check out the use of the Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s A Sin,” in the film cause it’s marvelously demented.
1. The Electrician – The Walker Brothers
2. Nabucco: Va Pensiero (Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves) (Verdi) – Coro Del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano/Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano/Lovro Von Matacic
3. Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s Funeral March (Wagner) – Siegfried Jerusalem/Thomas Hampson/Sir John Tomlinson/Eva Marton/Eva-Maria Bundschuh/Marjana Lipovsek/Jard Van Nes/Anne Sofie Von Otter/Jane Eaglen/Theo Adam/Julie Kaufmann/Silvia Herman/Christine Hagen/Anton Rosner/Rudolf Hillebrand/Dankwort Siegele/Jürg
4. Santa Please (Come Early This Christmas) – Eva Abraham And The Nat Franklin Trio
5. It’s A Sin – Pet Shop Boys
6. Meet Mister Callaghan – Ray Martin
7. Your Silent Face – New Order
8. Attila: Chi Dona Luce Al Cor? (Verdi) – Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano/Riccardo Muti
9. Digital Versicolor – Glass Candy
10. La Forza Del Destino: La Vergine Degli Angeli (Verdi) – Mirella Freni/Dolora Zajick/Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano/Riccardo Muti
11. Das Rheingold: Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla (Wagner) – Klaus Tennstedt/Berliner Philharmoniker
12. Eine Alpensinfonie: Nacht (R. Strauss) – Staatskapelle Dresden/Rudolf Kempe
13. Symphony No.4 In E Flat: I. Bewegt, Nicht Zu Schnell (Bruckner) – Staatskapelle Dresden/Eugen Jochum
14. Lakmé: Flower Duet (Delibes) – Orchestre Du Théâtre National De I’Opéra-Comique/Mady Mesplé/Alain Lombard/Danielle Millet
15. Madame Butterfly: Humming Chorus (Puccini) – Sir John Barbirolli
Vying for perhaps the #1 music moment of the year, “Bronson” opens with a stellar and gorgeous sequence set to the Walker Brothers’ “The Electrician,” from the experimental and sonorous 1978 album Nite Flights — an album that Brian Eno admitted that he and David Bowie greatly marveled at over the time in the documentary, “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man.” Here’s that moment below, the use of the song in the sequence is just stunning. “Bronson” opens up in limited U.S. release this next weekend on October 16 and will surely make our Top Films of 2009 list when we put it together at the end of the year. Go see it if it’s in your city.
“Bronson” opening sequence to the Walker Brothers’ “The Electrician”
New Order’s “Your Silent Face” is also obviously pretty excellent too.