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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - S 2 Mins Read

    Stormy Monday (1988)

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    Mike Figgis, an English musician and TV and theatre director, displays a gift for sensual, threatening atmosphere in his debut movie. And if you’re content to do nothing more than soak up visual and aural atmosphere, you’ll enjoy it.

    His score, incorporating blues standards, is outstanding. So are Roger Deakins’ photography and Andrew McAlpine’s production design, laden with purples and reds.

    And Sting – the former frontman of The Police – is excellent in the role of Finney, a jazz club owner (he has a memorable scene playing the double bass alone in his club).

    Sting’s performance, though, owes nothing to Figgis’ script – an inept piece that implodes with coincidence.

    Figgis and other 1980s directors who admire the dark thrillers of the 1940s appear to have forgotten that more often than not those pictures were solid rocks of plot, dialogue and characterisation.

    The script for Stormy Monday is barely an excuse to support lush sights and sounds.

    The setting is the waterfront area of Newcastle. Kate (Melanie Griffith) is a B-girl for American gangster/property development tycoon Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones) and a waitress at Finney’s waterfront club.

    She becomes involved with Brendan (Sean Bean), a young Irishman who does odd jobs on the premises.

    Cosmo, who wants to take over the property, has a contract out on Finney.

    At the same time, there’s murder in his eye when he realises Kate is getting out of his grasp. None of that is convincing, and the bloody climax is just silly.

    The American actors get the worst of it. Griffiths – looking unflatteringly overweight – and Jones are like fish challenged to sink or swim in inhospitable waters. They sink.

    Kate
    Melanie Griffith
    Cosmo
    Tommy Lee Jones
    Finney
    Sting
    Brendan
    Sean Bean
    Tony
    James Cosmo
    Patrick
    Mark Long
    Jim
    Brian Lewis
    Pianist
    Mick Hamer
    Andrej
    Andrzej Borkowski
    Bob
    Scott Hoxby (as Derek Hoxby)
    Peter Reed
    Heathcote Williams
    Councillor Perry
    Roderic Leigh
    Carol
    Dulice Liecier

    Director
    Mike Figgis

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