Mona Lisa

It's typical of the 80s because it's preachy. Prostitution is bad and causes suffering to the people involved. Well, who would have guessed? This is a patchy film, and what others see as great acting I often see as shouting. As well as the shouting, there's a lot of grabbing people by the arm and hustling them along. There are some very good bits, though, including Hoskins' visit to a clip joint, his meeting with the girl in a grim cafe near Kings Cross (now long gone, as are most cafes like it). Another good bit is his rescue of the girl from the clutches of a horrible pervert in a room with a two-way mirror. (Did you enjoy that? You weren't meant to!) Robbie Coltrane is meant to be a bit of light relief but he is embarrassingly sentimental and unfunny in a peculiarly eighties way. I think "quirky" is the word I want.

George (Bob Hoskins) newly out after a stint in prison, agrees to chauffeur Simone (Cathy Tyson) "a tall, black, tart". At first they hate each other, but things can change. So when Simone asks George to find a friend of hers that she lost contact with, he dives into the sordid, underbelly of the sex/prostitution underworld. This film was an unexpected treat, knowing next to nothing about it, save for the fact that I admire Bob Hoskins, Micheal Caine, and Robbie Coltrane all. Cathy Tyson was merely ok in the film & sadly Coltrane is pretty much wasted as Thomas. But both Hoskins and Caine are superb. Sadly, in America at least, Bob Hoskins is known to the non-cinema masses as merely Eddie from "What ever happened to Roger Rabbit?" & "That guy from Hook". This is a shame, as he's an amazing actor My Grade: A Where i saw it: Sundance channel

George (Bob Hoskins) gets out of prison but his wife won't let him see his daughter. Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) is his friend from the old days. Times have changed. The only job he can get is to drive high-priced call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson) for local gangster Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine). George and Simone don't get along at first. Simone talks George into looking for young prostitute Cathy but he befriends abused May (Sammi Davis) instead. Meanwhile Denny wants George to find out what Simone is doing with one particular client. Cathy Tyson is electric in her character. Bob Hoskins is great but his character is conveniently written dumb sometimes. At times, he's too naive like crashing in on one of Simone's tricks. I don't know what exactly he expects to see in that room. Sammi Davis is absolutely heart-breaking. The movie is a little uneven at times but the two leads are great.