One of the big winners (figuratively speaking) at Sundance was Bronson, Nicolas Winding Refn’s account of the man said to be Britain’s most violent prisoner. Tom Hardy reportedly plays the man who calls himself Charles Bronson as a violent performance artist. Hardy earned raves for his work, and a collation of festival reviews holds the movie as a great success for Refn.
Read Devin’s review from Sundance, or just take Refn at his word: “Bronson is not a biopic of Michael Petersen, but a film about the concept of becoming Charles Bronson.”
Magnet, the genre arm of distributor Magnolia, has picked up the film for a US release. The company previously handled Refn’s excellent Pusher trilogy, and just nabbed US rights for Ong Bak 2 last week. Bronson is among my most anticipated films for ’09, and should be on your list, too. How could it be otherwise, based on this footage?