Mona Lisa (1986)

Really good British neo-noir featuring great performances from Bob Hoskins and the lovely Cathy Tyson who share some nice scenes together and a pretty melancholy ending. Michael Caine is great as a classy scumbag (seems like he played many of these roles in the 70s and 80s). This is the second time seeing this and still holds up. **4.0/5**

I had watched this movie many years ago, but not to remember much of it, so with the fairly positive ratings and Bob Hoskins, it felt like a safe bet. But there wasn’t as much humor as I thought I remembered, and the plot of a guy trying to “rescue” a hooker seems rather stereotypical and predictable in places. It didn’t do much for me and I barely stuck with it. I was so unimpressed that I decided not to watch another gangster movie featuring Hoskins and good ratings.

Bob Hoskins is entirely convincing as the increasingly conflicted and crotchety petty criminal “George” who has just been released after a seven year stretch as a guest of Her Majesty. He has been released into a world that doesn’t really want him any more, and so he is relegated to driving high class hooker “Simone” (Cathy Tyson) from one wealthy client to another, whilst his ex-wife ensures that he isn’t welcome at home or to see his daughter. Initially, he isn’t too impressed with his new charge but the more he works with her the more they gradually begin to understand each other and he falls, a bit one-sidedly it has to be said, in love. As that relationship becomes more trusting, “Simone” takes him into her confidence more and asks him to help track down another, less expensive, prostitute “Cathy” (Kate Hardie) who’s earning opportunities are more limited and her drug dependency makes her even more vulnerable on the unforgiving streets controlled by the sordid and scheming “Mortwell” (Michael Caine). Pretty swiftly, “George” finds himself embroiled in a scenario that is pitching him against his own, in defence of a woman who has an altogether different agenda and it’s a dangerous straddling position to escape from. There is something tragic about this story and both Hopkins and Tyson play their roles poignantly as the threads of their completely differing lives gradually entangle. He has to come to terms with an unfamiliar side of his erstwhile friends, of his city and of himself that shows us a grimy, seamy and brutal industry that saw some amass wealth at the expense of the vulnerable. Neil Jordan has written potently here, sure, but there is also some humour peppered throughout the drama and a solid supporting cast help add richness to a plot that’s full of twists, turns and even some Elton John specs. It has dated a little, but is still well worth a watch.