Film

B. Monkey (1998)

Director: Michael Radford

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Strait-laced teacher Alan (Harris) moonlights as a hospital DJ playing Django Reinhardt and confiding in his captive audience (they'd run a mile if only they could). He chats up Beatrice (Argento) after spotting her in a bar. Romance blossoms between geek and goddess, yet 'B Monkey' - as Beatrice is known on the street - is an armed robber. She wants to quit, but the underworld won't let go, and B doesn't help by shooting a racketeer creditor of her best friend Paul (Everett). In a last-ditch break with the past, Alan and B flee to Yorkshire, but London is never far away. Despite the implausible romance and a lack of gritty authenticity - both in the Dales and in the Smoke - there's much to enjoy, from Everett's morose dandy to Pringle's bisexual headteacher. Excellent cameos from Higgins as a jealous teaching colleague and Wallace as an abusive parent. Rhys Meyers shoots a lowering glare as Paul's ex-lover, while Argento's performance is an electrifiying mix of kittenish vulnerability and tattooed carnality.

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