HonkWatch #092: B. Monkey

Incompetent blagger Johnny Hart (Vincent Regan) catches chunks in his hat following a botched gem heist in B. Monkey.

Piss & Vinegar #036: B. Monkey

Sticking with B. Monkey, here’s Alan (Jared Harris, on the right) having an awkward post-interview moment with Mr Goodchild (Bryan Pringle), one of the governors at the rural Yorkshire school he hopes to join in order to shield Beatrice from her former friends in the London underworld.

It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, all Spartacus deleted scenes discretion and innuendo, but touching.

HonkWatch #091: B. Monkey

I have a real soft spot for B. Monkey, Michael Radford’s adaptation of the Andrew Davies novel about a retired thief’s attempts to leave her criminal past and settle down with a jazz-loving teacher.

Admittedly I do have a huge (LLF-approved) crush on Asia Argento, who plays Beatrice, but I think it is a genuinely sweet, low-key little film. Rupert Everett is marvellous as B’s doomed drug fiend pal Paul, and Jared Harris is convincing as Alan, the straight man who can’t really believe that a woman like her could fall for him. (Perhaps it’s identifying with Alan that makes me like the movie 😉 ).

The turning point of B’s relationship with Alan is when he takes her to Paris for the weekend. Previously he has been struck impotent by his own insecurity and her beauty – this is his final throw of the dice. She is wanton and decadent, a risk taker; he is almost too gentle, passionate only about his music, and he finds it difficult to express his feelings for her or to her. In a restaurant a drunken B provokes an argument, questioning Alan’s virility whilst gorging on oysters. Unfortunately they are bad, or simply too rich, and she falls quite ill almost immediately on returning to their hotel on Alan’s shoulder. He comforts her and washes her and puts her to bed. When she wakes, days have passed, and a connection is made in his quiet, diligent, tender care for her.