Cell 211: Spanish director Daniel Monzon incendiary prison movie
Spanish director Daniel Monzon failed to make much of an impact with his previous movie – quirky straight-to-DVD thriller The Kovak Box – but his latest movie Cell 211 (StudioCanal) sees him return to Spanish language material, with incendiary results.
Rookie prison guard Juan Oliver (Alberto Ammann) is keen to make a good impression with his new colleagues, and reports to work a day early. Unfortunately for him, the decision proves to be a catastrophic one, and a freak accident sees him knocked unconscious by a chunk of falling rubble and dragged into the recently vacated Cell 211 before medical attention can be sought.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the prison, notorious jail-breaker and riot veteran Malamadre (Luis Tosar, Miami Vice) is plotting a disturbance of his own, and takes an unsuspecting guard hostage, steals his keys and releases his fellow inmates. Needless to say, all hell breaks loose, and when Juan comes to his senses he quickly realises that the environment around him has changed irrevocably, and takes the bold decision to try and pass himself off as a new prison inmate, and win the trust of the dangerous but charismatic Malamadre and his cronies. But can he stay one step ahead of the lunatics he is imprisoned with before help arrives?
The plot may resemble a grounded version of Con Air, but that’s where the similarities end, and Cell 211 is a vicious, nail-biting drama, rather than a caricature-laden blockbuster. Not that the sinister Malamadre (which literally translates as ‘Bad Mother’) would seem out of place in Con Air’s rogue’s gallery of villains. Thanks to a pair of phenomenal performances from Tosar and newcomer Ammann, the murky morality play at the heart of Cell 211 is brought vividly to life, and the narrative is tense and menacing throughout.
Crash director Paul Haggis has already been selected to write and direct the US remake, but after his mind-numbing rehash of French thriller Anything For Her (retitled The Next Three Days), you wish he would leave it well alone, as the original is a well-paced, brutally efficient piece of storytelling. Cell 211 is arguably the best prison thriller since A Prophet, and well worth seeking out.
The Guard: an offbeat Irish crime thriller from John Michael McDonagh staring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle
Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh – whose playwright brother Martin McDonagh achieved cinematic prominence in 2008 with In Bruges – The Guard (StudioCanal) is an offbeat Irish crime thriller that sees Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter) take centre-stage as Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a small-town cop with a twisted sense of responsibility.
More concerned with his dying mother, and his regular dalliances with a pair of prostitutes , than he is with upholding the peace – let alone investigating the international cocaine smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle, Ocean’s Eleven) to Ireland – Boyle leads a life of ignorant bliss. Until, that is, his straight-laced new partner disappears, and the Irish cop begrudgingly teams up with his American counterpart to unravel the mystery.
Recently named as one of the Guardian’s top 10 debut movies of 2011 – alongside the likes of Animal Kingdom, Attack The Block and Submarine – The Guard is well deserving of the praise being heaped on it. The endearingly shambolic Gleeson utterly inhabits the role of Boyle, and rarely has he had so much fun onscreen.
The ever-reliable Don Cheadle provides impeccable deadpan foil to Gleeson’s larger-than-life anti-hero, and the likes of Liam Cunningham and Mark Strong also offer strong support. McDonagh impressively nails the blend of dark comedy and thrills, and The Guard is reminiscent of a less bombastic version of Hot Fuzz. Although the freewheeling In Bruges also makes for an apt comparison, if anything, The Guard is more consistent than its well-received predecessor. Crammed with surreal flourishes and snappy dialogue, this warped buddy movie is an unexpectedly enjoyable treat.
