150 Word Review: ‘Mona Lisa’ (1986)
Thugs need hugs
Bob Hoskins was at his best playing working-class slobs with compassion and vulnerability. In Neil Jordan’s gritty, romantic 1986 noir Mona Lisa, Hoskins plays a thick-witted but loyal ex-con given a thankless job driving a high-end escort all around London.
The escort, played by Cathy Tyson, cleans the clueless hood up and then asks him for help finding a friend lost on the streets. He obliges because deep down underneath the bluster, he’s a good bloke. As the local mob boss manipulating Hoskin’s trusting character, Michael Caine is pure Cockney sleaze.
Mona Lisa mixes parts of My Fair Lady and Taxi Driver, the latter a movie about an avenging lowlife. There’s a love story, too, but it’s not what you think. The ending is bloody, surprising, and touching, but it’s Hoskins’ movie, a clumsy thug who wants to be needed. His one and only Oscar nomination was for this role.