''B. Monkey'' is a British-American 1998

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by Michael Radford. Originally,

Michael Caton-Jones Michael Caton-Jones (born Michael Jones; 15 October 1957) is a Scottish director and producer of film and television. Biography Caton-Jones grew up in Broxburn, near Edinburgh. He moved to London and squatted in Stoke Newington. He attend ...

was attached to direct the adaptation of the homonymous 1992 book by Andrew Davies, but left over creative differences.

Plot

Alan ( Jared Harris) is a schoolteacher in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

who also moonlights as a jazz

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

for a hospital PA system. One night after work, he goes to a bar and sees Beatrice ( Asia Argento) a beautiful woman who is arguing with two men. Alan is immediately captivated by Beatrice and begins to pursue her. What Alan doesn't know is that Beatrice is an infamous thief known to the police as "B. Monkey" (named for her ability to break into anything) and the men she was arguing with were Paul (

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public scho ...

) and Bruno ( Jonathan Rhys Meyers) a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

couple who are her partners in crime. When Alan becomes aware of Beatrice's secret, he tries to lead her into a safer and more honest way of life, even as she lures him into the thrilling existence he's been dreaming of.

Cast

* Asia Argento as Beatrice/B. Monkey * Jared Harris as Alan Furnace *

as Paul Neville * Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Bruno * Julie T. Wallace as Mrs. Sturge * Ian Hart as Steve Davis * Tim Woodward as Frank Rice *

Bryan Pringle Bryan Pringle (19 January 1935 – 15 May 2003) was an English character actor who appeared for several decades in television, film and theatre productions. Life and career Born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, he was brought up in the Lancashire town ...

as Goodchild

Production

In her autobiography, star Argento said she had an affair with director Radford during filming. Argento had earlier accused producer

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (, ; born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent ...

of sexual assault during the same time period.

Reception

Film

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website

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gave the film a rating of 60% based on 20 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

has the film listed as a 49 out of 100, indicating mixed reviews, based on 10 critics. Anita Gates of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' had a mixed review of the film but thought highly of the actors:

Soundtrack

* "Billets Doux" performed by

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...

* " De Camptown Races" * " They Can't Take That Away from Me" performed by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

* "Trash" performed by

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, Textile, fabrics, Handbag, purses, furniture, and other items. Suede is made from the underside of the animal skin, which is softer and m ...

* "Souvenirs" performed by Django Reinhardt * "Love Anybody You Want" performed by Barcode * "Life Goes On and On" performed by 9 Lazy 9 * "Two Hearts Entwine" * " Glory Box" performed by Portishead * "Imagination" performed by

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

* "Look Who's Perfect Now" performed by Transistor * " You're the First, the Last, My Everything" performed by

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

* "Chinese Burn" performed by

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

* "I'm goin round in circles" performed by

Jimmy Witherspoon James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, an ...

* "Tarantelle del Gargano" performed by La Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare * "D'Amour L'ardent Flamme" performed by The Wiener Volksopernorchester * " Sweet Jane" performed by

Cowboy Junkies Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The three Timminses ...

* "

Tupelo Honey ''Tupelo Honey'' is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs in Woodstock, New York, before his move to Marin Count ...

" performed by Cassandra Wilson

Creative differences

In October 2017, Michael Caton-Jones revealed that he had chosen Sophie Okonedo, to star. However, the producer,

, decided the actress wasn't "fuckable". Caton-Jones and Weinstein discussed the matter heatedly, and Caton-Jones said, "'Don't screw up the casting of this film because you want to get laid', whereupon he went mental." Weinstein then leaked to '' Variety'' that Caton-Jones had walked off the movie due to "creative differences". Argento, who replaced Okonedo, was one of three women who in 2017 were reported in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' to have been

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

d by Weinstein; she said that she submitted to Weinstein because, "I felt I had to, because I had the movie coming out and I didn't want to anger him."

References

External links

* * {{Michael Radford 1998 films British crime films British LGBTQ-related films Films based on British novels Films shot in Paris Films shot in England Films scored by Luis Bacalov 1998 crime films 1990s English-language films 1998 LGBTQ-related films Films directed by Michael Radford 1990s British films English-language crime films