Prick Up Your Ears (1987)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Gary Oldman plays real life British 60's sensation Joe Orton, the author of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane". His performance, for me, goes at the very core of a gallery of real life characters who run the gamut from A to Z and then some. From Sid Vicious to Ludwig Van Beethoven, from Lee Harvey Oswald to Joe Orton and in 2017 Winston Churchill - not to mention fictional literary characters like Count Dracula. With Joe Orton, Gary Oldman reaches some kind of mountain top. He finds innocence in this emotional and sexual misfit and he projects Orton's genius with a profound flawed humanity. His tragic lover is played by another extraordinary actor, Alfred Molina - I've just seen him in "Feud" playing Robert Aldrich with such virtuosity that I have developed a personal relationship with Aldrich as if I knew him personally. Oldman and Molina create something we've never seen before and Stephen Frears know exactly how to capture it. As if this wasn't enough, Vanessa Redgrave play's Orton's agent. Even if you've never heard of Joe Orton, do yourself a favor, venture into this dark and human universe.

A hopscotch series of flashbacks reconstructs events leading to the brutal 1967 murder of controversial young British playwright Joe Orton by his lover Ken Halliwell. There's an attempt to explain the crime in the context of England's then draconian anti-gay legal system, but underneath the forthright candor of the homosexual love scenes is an all-too conventional biography, like others emphasizing a tragic story of romance gone sour.The leapfrog structure opens before the couple's first meeting (in drama class where, in a playacting exercise, Halliwell throttles an imaginary cat), and continues through the moment they became lovers (during a TV broadcast of the Queen's coronation) to their inevitable estrangement, as the insecure Halliwell becomes increasingly jealous of Orton's professional acclaim and uninhibited promiscuity. The performances alone are enough to recommend the film, but the brevity of Orton's life (cut short almost at the moment of his first success) doesn't allow for much in the way of character development. And because no examples of his eccentric playwriting are included, the author himself remains (to anyone unfamiliar with his work) too much of a mystery.

Director Stephen Frears has often picked up interesting subjects for his films. 'Prick Up Your Ears' is based on the relationship between famous writer Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell. Set in the 60s, this was during the time when 'being gay' in public was considered a criminal offense in parts of UK. Joe Orton is confident, talented, mellow and liked by everyone while his partner Halliwell is comparatively shy and distant and resentful of Joe's success as he claims to be the man behind his partner's success and complains about not receiving enough credit for it.Frears depicts the relationship quite sensibly. There is almost always a conflict or a disagreement in Orton and Halliwell's sequences but the love is always apparent. While Kenneth's insecurity worsens as Joe climbs every step up towards success, Joe always stands by him. The viewer is also given brief glimpses of Joe's relationship with his mother, sister and confidant Peggy. The depiction of the 60's gay culture is also intriguing.The execution isn't first rate as the cinematography is flat and the editing leaves a lot to be desired. The pacing is very slow. The lighting could have used some improvement.The acting is superb. Gary Oldman is spellbinding as Joe Orton. Even though he is more commonly known for his villainous roles, movies like these prove what a versatile actor he is. Alfred Molina is brilliant as Kenneth. A foxy Julie Walters makes her presence felt in a limited role. Vanessa Redgrave is remarkable in a brief but memorable role.'Prick Up Your Ears' is an interesting psychological character study and true crime drama. In addition to the wonderful performances, the writing is first rate, especially the witty dialogues loaded with humour. The movie ends on a note of leaving the viewer to wonder what would have become of Orton's life had he still lived. Here was a man who had everything going for him...except one thing that ended his life.

The life and death of devilish homosexual British playwright Joe Orton who, in 1964, had his first play "Entertaining Mr. Sloan" produced on the London stage after years of flailing about. Orton's open-ended relationship with his flatmate/lover, the hulking, desperate Kenneth Halliwell, is often brilliantly observed by director Stephen Frears, who manages to make this masochistic relationship funny and creepy at the same time. Gary Oldman's performance as Orton is prankish, malicious and enormously amusing; his prodding of Halliwell is excruciating, yet one can see how much it turns Orton on. Alfred Molina's Halliwell is really Orton's flip-side: self-conscious, needy and hopeless, he begins as Orton's writing partner but quickly degenerates into a lackey, his morose despair becoming more anxious and impenetrable. A finely-tuned, intentionally callow, brightly-colored bauble of immoral behavior. Terrific supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave looking marvelous as a literary agent with a soft purr of a voice. **1/2 from ****