An Englishman in New York (2009)

An Englishman in New York (2009). 1h 15m | Not Rated

“This film was definitely superior to the BBCu0026#39;s new u0026quot;Day of the Triffidsu0026quot; adaptation (which was scheduled directly against it), but is not the dramatic equal of the original u0026quot;Naked Civil Servantu0026quot;, with which it will inevitably be compared. I suspect the main cause of this is that the source material simply doesnu0026#39;t provide a lot of scope: when a story starts with its protagonist in his seventies and having finally gained acceptance and even celebrity, the time-span is inevitably somewhat short and there isnu0026#39;t a great deal more that can happen to him. Even in situations which could, and would, have been threatening to the younger Quentin Crisp, his elder statesman status effectively restricts the repercussions.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs a result, more or less the only u0026#39;plot eventu0026#39; of the film is the arrival of AIDS in New York, with even that seen largely through the effects on Crispu0026#39;s career of a single dismissive quip (his reasoned attitude is that making too much of AIDS will only bolster public perception of homosexuals as disease-ridden outcasts, but this doesnu0026#39;t go down well among his target audience). Otherwise, u0026quot;An Englishman in New Yorku0026quot; consists largely of bons mots; little snippets of Crisp performing and delivering his famous lines, whether to an audience of one or to a small studio gathering.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat said, given the limitations of its material the film manages to pull off the difficult trick of its predecessor, presenting its deliberately flamboyant, over-the-top protagonist as a sympathetic human being whose pose we not only condone but find ourselves applauding. I generally shy away from u0026#39;gay issuesu0026#39;, but find myself feeling here for the people he meets and the prejudice he encounters, both from them and on their behalf. In some ways, it is as hard to be a determinedly effeminate homosexual among the butch u0026#39;clonesu0026#39; of an out-of-the-closet New York as among the disapproving middle classes of pre-war England.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJohn Hurt does an excellent task in portraying the physical aging of the character, and of course it is a great bonus to have the same actor appearing in both films with a genuine generational time-lapse between them. It is just a truism that — despite Quentin Crispu0026#39;s much-repeated prediction that every year u0026quot;things are going to get worseu0026quot; — happiness, as the proverb has it, simply doesnu0026#39;t make for such an enthralling story as do troubled times; and this is essentially a depiction of a man who has finally come to terms with the world, and it with him. As such it is well-meaning and pretty well executed, but not a particularly unmissable experience. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd inevitably it is less touching and less striking than its predecessor.”