I Love London Films, Part 2
John Boorman, Michael Caine, Neil Jordan, Vin Diesel - the gang's all here!
On Blitz movies prior to Steve McQueen’s Blitz…
John Boorman’s Hope And Glory, what with Boorman having been a child of the Blitz, is quite romanticised. It pulls this off as it’s a film seen through the eyes of a child. And, of course, beneath the childhood adventure, Hope And Glory points up that there was nothing at all romantic about that era. It took some very tough people with a lot of resolve to get through it.
On Neil Jordan’s London…
Someone I think does a very good job with London - in particular King’s Cross and Euston - is Neil Jordan. He’s a Dubliner who’s not actually that fond of London. And perhaps that’s why he was so successful in Mona Lisa and The Crying Game at capturing the decay of the King’s Cross of the 1980s and early ‘90s.
On Vin Diesel’s favourite London film…
I interviewed Vin Diesel when I was living in Australia and was very surprised to discover that his favourite British film is the original Alfie. He even does a - frankly terrible - Michael Caine impression! He says it’s a very interesting film about being a man and being a young man about town and the discovery that, rather than a charmer, you’re actually a bounder - callous, unpleasant and utterly selfish. And the price of that? It’s as Caine says towards the end of the film - “I don’t have my peace of mind”.
On Michael Caine’s capital…
Caine’s a wonderful actor. He’s brilliant in Alfie, Mona Lisa, all manner of London movies. I like how the city has acknowledged his past. I lived in Catford for quite a while and whenever I caught the bus up through Rotherhithe, I was sure to look out for the blue plaque on one of the buildings close to Jamaica Road, pointing up the location of his childhood home.
What I like most about Caine and his relationship with his hometown is the fact that he doesn’t sentimentalize London. While I’m sure he’d be wonderful in the Richard Curtis world, Caine - with films like Mona Lisa and Harry Brown - seems far more interested in the harder aspects of life in general and city life in particular.