Steven Mackintosh Movies
With the blond, knowing looks of a choir boy gone wrong and a resumé boasting some of the more offbeat films and television series of the last decade, British actor Steven Mackintosh is one of the more versatile and unpredictable actors on either side of the Atlantic. Although largely unknown in the United States, Mackintosh has worked steadily in his native England since his first role at the age of 13.Born in Cambridge in 1967, Mackintosh got his start on the stage but segued into television in 1985, with parts in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 and The Browning Version. After touring with the National Theatre Company for two years, Mackintosh won his first screen role in 1987, as a minor character in the critically acclaimed story of playwright Joe Orton, Prick Up Your Ears. After secondary parts in two more features, 1989's Treasure Island and 1990's Memphis Belle, Mackintosh landed a leading role in Hanif Kureishi's London Kills Me (1991). Mackintosh, in his role as a hustler by the name of Muffdiver, was one of the odder and thornier aspects of an odd and thorny film. The actor's off-kilter versatility was further displayed via performances in subsequent films and television miniseries such as Roger Michell's 1993 miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia; Dennis Potter's final project, the comedy spoof Midnight Movie (1994); and an obscure 1995 film called The Grotesque, co-starring Alan Bates and Sting.
In 1996, Mackintosh came to the attention of American art house audiences, first with his turn as Sebastian in Trevor Nunn's lavish screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Co-starring Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, and Nigel Hawthorne, the film received favorable reviews which nicely complemented those garnered by Mackintosh's other outing, Different for Girls. Mackintosh co-starred with Rupert Graves as a prim transsexual in the comedy, which was remarkable for both its complex subject matter and the honesty with which such matter was dealt. The release of the film in such close context with that of Twelfth Night also gave Mackintosh further opportunity to display his startling flexibility, something he did again the following year with the World War II drama The Land Girls. After his turn as an amorous farmer, Mackintosh characteristically went in a completely different direction, with his hilarious portrayal of a ne'er-do-well pot grower in the 1998 film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The film, which was equal parts Quentin Tarantino and testosterone, was a smash hit in Britain, and made another offbeat addition to Mackintosh's already diverse resumé. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
A career criminal seeks redemption for himself, his family, and his friends by busting out of a penitentiary in this intelligent thriller. Frank (Brian Cox) is a criminal who was forced to leave his wife and six-year-old daughter behind when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Frank openly acknowledges he was guilty and has made his peace with life behind bars, but when he learns that a drug overdose has left his daughter seriously ill, he feels a powerful need to reconnect with his family, and his only option is to escape. Knowing he can't do it alone, Frank assembles a team from various factions of the prison population, including Viv (Seu Jorge), who makes and deals drugs from his cell; Lenny (Joseph Fiennes), a wiry tough guy who doesn't speak if he can avoid it; and Lacey (Dominic Cooper), Frank's new cellmate who is a white-collar criminal not cut out for prison life. Frank soon realizes if his plan is to work, he'll have to bring aboard some of the more dangerous and unpredictable members of the prison's community, including vicious and corrupt brothers Rizza (Damian Lewis) and Tony (Steven Mackintosh). The Escapist was the first feature film from writer and director Rupert Wyatt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, (more)
- 2008
Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs star in this period drama set in 1930s-era Germany, and detailing the ways in which an otherwise "good" man can be slowly seduced by dark forces. John Halder is a professor of literature. When he's not teaching, most of John's time is dedicated to looking after his neurotic wife, tending to the couple's two young children, and caring for his elderly mother, who suffers from senile dementia. Disheartened by his mother's downward spiral, John authors a novel supporting euthanasia for the terminally ill. Much to John's surprise, the Nazi party singles out his tome as the "way forward," and soon begins to heap flattery on the author in the form of glowing compliments and extravagant gifts. As a result, John finds himself making a variety of minor moral compromises that soon begin to snowball. As his moral compass becomes less and less reliable and music manifests in John's conscience at the most inopportune moments -- such as the time a Bavarian boy choir bursts in as he's attempting to seduce a young lover -- the author begins to question his own motivations while also taking pause to consult with his best friend, a Jewish psychoanalyst named Maurice (Jason Isaacs). Unfortunately for Maurice, the situation is quickly worsening for the Jews of Germany as John continues his ascent in the party ranks. While John does everything within his power to save Maurice, the risks involved in truly removing his old friend from harm's way may already be too great for the morally compromised author to consider. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, (more)
- 2007
An aspiring country singer and a weary mechanic living in a quiet Northern Ireland community receive an uneasy chill when an old friend is released from prison in director Niall Heery's affecting study of male vulnerability and human weakness. Doug (Iian Glen) is a wannabe country singer who sports a demo he won't let anyone listen to despite his desire to get some airtime and play for locals in the local tavern. Doug's best friend is hapless local mechanic Bill (Steven Mackintosh), a man who longs to pass the family's small engine repair shop on to his hesitant son Tony (Laurence Kinlan). When Doug and Bill's deeply disturbed friend Burley (Stuart Graham) returns to the town following a stint in prison, their reluctance to accept him back into the fold leads all involved on an introspective journey that will force them to reexamine both their lives and their expectations for the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Iain Glen, Steven Mackintosh, (more)
Actor-turned-director Gary Love makes his feature debut with this screen adaptation of co-screenwriter Dominic Leyton's acclaimed stage production Collision. Tom (Steven Mackintosh) is a middle class city boy who is currently scouring the back streets of London in search of an elusive and unnamed object. When Tom comes into contact with desperate young crack addict D (Ashley Walters), it looks as if he may have finally found what he's been looking for. Now, with time running out for Tom and D and psychotic local crime-lord Hoodwink (Andy Serkis) quickly closing in, the pair enter into a deadly game of cat and mouse that finds their mysterious goals gradually coming into focus as their hope to see another day glows ever more dim. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ashley Walters, Steven Mackintosh, (more)
A woman who wanted nothing more in life than to become a mother finds her sanity slipping after the birth of her child in a terrifying look at the horrors of parenthood starring Academy Award nominee Elisabeth Shue. The only thing that seems to be missing from Laura (Shue)'s otherwise perfect life is a child, and when Laura and her husband discover that she has become pregnant it seems that all the pair's dreams are finally coming true. Motherhood is far from the simple and instinctual task that Laura imagined it would be, however, and soon after the birth of her child the confused new parent finds herself struggling with the pains of post-partum depression. Despite her determination to protect her baby at all costs, Laura begins to question her abilities as a parent after moving into a large and isolated new home. Now, as a plague of rats flood into the basement of the home, a mysterious diary is pulled from inside the decrepit walls of the home, and a new nanny is hired to help the distressed mother care for her newborn child, the situation soon descends into a harrowing battle for sanity as the fate of a young child hangs in the balance. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Shue, Steven Mackintosh, (more)
Writer-director Isabel Coixet's (My Life Without Me) beautifully wrought chamber drama The Secret Life of Words opens on Hanna (Sarah Polley), a laconic, backward and introverted girl in her early '30s, quietly drowning in her own isolation. Partially deaf from working an untold number of hours in a loud factory, Hanna must wear a hearing aid. When her supervisors -- deeply concerned about the four years that have lapsed in Hanna's life without a break -- force her to go on holiday for a month, she hesitantly takes off for a coastal village in the north of Ireland. Once there, she decides to dine in a local restaurant, and overhears, by chance, a telephone conversation conducted by Victor (Eddie Marsan), regarding an accident on a nearby oil rig that he precipitated, which left a victim, Josef (Tim Robbins) in its wake. Hanna tells Victor that she is a nurse, and is instantly flown to the rig to treat the bedbound Josef -- temporarily blind from extensive cornea damage, and his body blanketed with severe burns. She also encounters the structure's motley and eccentric band of workers -- from ecologist Martin (Daniel Mays), who spends his time studying mutated mussels that collect on the ship's base and the waves that strike the side of the rig, to Josef, to chef Simon (Javier Camára), who prepares "gourmet" food no one else can stand, to Dimitri (Sverre Anker Ousdal), an elderly gentleman who is as much of a loner as Hanna. As Hanna begins to foresee a new place for herself among these individuals, a relationship gradually develops between Hanna and Josef, who holds his new friend rapt with lyrical, evocative, magisterial tales from his past -- unknowingly drawing Hanna, one step at a time, toward inner joy, self-expression, and revelation of her own sad and complex story. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, (more)
- 2003
The third installment of screenwriter Peter Greenaway's anticipated 16-episode story finds Tulse Luper, the protagonist, whittling away his time in jail. (In the previous episode, Tulse had been arrested in a bathroom just prior to the German invasion of Belgium in 1940.) Without the company of either of his two lovers, Tulse's favorite activity is posting fictional accounts on his wall in hopes of foretelling his own future, thus cementing his status around prison as a top storyteller. Unfortunately for Tulse, his jailers are less concerned with his innocence than they are with using him for their own nefarious purposes, and do their best to fabricate evidence that Tulse is, in fact, a fascist sympathizer. The cast includes JJ Feild, Drew Mulligan, Debbie Harry, Isabella Rossellini, and Jack Wouterse. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- JJ Feild, Valentina Cervi, (more)
- 2003
Iconoclastic director Peter Greenaway begins his most ambitious project to date with this feature, the first in a proposed series of films, television programs, and multimedia projects that examine the contents of 92 suitcases, each revealed by title character Tulse Henry Purcel Luper. Broken into three sections spanning 1928 to 1940, The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Part One follows our young hero from age 10, when he is reprimanded by his father for scrawling some graffiti on a wall in his desolate South Wales neighborhood. Years later, Tulse (JJ Field) is a desert explorer who winds up being further punished by the aptly-named dominatrix Passion Hockmeister (Caroline Dhavernas). Finally, in the film's last section, Tulse is in Antwerp at the start of World War II, where he ends up being imprisoned by Nazis. Told in a fractured, non-narrative style, The Tulse Luper Suitcases also incorporates many inter-titles, superimposed images, an ever-present narrator presented in a picture-within-picture format, intentionally fake-looking sets, and many, many references to other Greenaway films and characters. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- JJ Feild, Valentina Cervi, (more)
U.K. documentary filmmaker Philippa Lowthorpe brings an experimental approach to the costume drama The Other Boleyn Girl, produced for television by BBC Films. Shot with a handheld digital camera, the film is a largely improvised project based on the best-selling novel by Philippa Gregory. In 16th century England, the recently married Mary Boleyn (Natascha McElhone) is encouraged to have an affair with the notorious King Henry VIII (Jared Harris) in order to improve the power of her family. When she gets pregnant, the king turns his attention to her sister Anne Boleyn (Jodhi May). Learning to play by the degrading rules of the king's court, Anne conspires with her brother George (Steven Mackintosh) to produce a male heir. The Other Boleyn Girl first aired on BBC Two March 28, 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natascha McElhone, Jodhi May, (more)
- 2002
Gemini awards went to star Wendy Crewson, director Jerry Ciccoretti, writer Karen Walton and film editor George Roulston for their contributions to the fact-based Canadian TV movie The Many Trials of One Jane Doe. Crewson plays the title character, the fifth victim of the High Park Rapist, who has been systematically preying on women in Scarborough, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. After her ordeal, "Jane Doe" discovers that the police knew full well that the rapist was operating in the vicinity, but did nothing to prevent her attack; in fact, the authorities were all but using women like "Jane" as bait to flush out the perpetrator! Hiring Sean Dewart (Steven Mackintosh) as her attorney, "Jane" files suit against the police, only to be caricatured by a hostile press as a hysterical "man-hater" and irresponsible zealot--and thanks to the ruthlessness of the defense team, she is treated in court as though she were the criminal instead of the victim! First telecast by the CBC in 2002, The Many Trials of One Jane Doe subsequently received American airplay on cable's Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmed several times during the silent era (most notably as a 1915 vehicle for Theda Bara), Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Victorian sensation novel Lady Audley's Secret was revamped as a British TV movie in 2000. Neve McIntosh heads the cast as Lucy, a mysterious woman with a shady past who manages to inveigle a proposal of marriage from her wealthy and aristocratic employer Sir Michael Audley (Kenneth Cranham). Upon his return to England after several years of prospecting for gold, Sir Michael's nephew, Robert (Steve Mackintosh), is immediately smitten by his glamorous young aunt. Equally impressed is Robert's scoundrelly mining partner, George (Jamie Bamber), who apparently knows the whole sordid truth about Lady Audley's past. The plot thickens when the blackmail-minded George abruptly disappears. Lady Audley's Secret was first telecast in the U.K. on May 17, 2000, several weeks after its March 23, 2000, world premiere on the American PBS anthology Mystery! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of several British miniseries adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, this four-part version debuted over the BBC in 1998. The production's generous running time (total: six hours), enabled scenarist Sandy Welch to include virtually every important detail in this complex Victorian-era saga of how a mysterious waterfront death inextricably linked the lives of two young women, Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes) and Bella Wilfer (Anna Friel). The richness of the Dickensian prose was complemented by the visuals, which incorporated everything from documentary-style handheld camerawork to Eisenstein-ish montages, and by the eerily polytonal musical score by Adrian Johnston. Our Mutual Friend was brought to America courtesy of PBS beginning January 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, (more)
Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of high-seas adventure comes to the screen in this feature film adaptation starring Robbie Coltrane, Steven MacKintosh, and Chris Barnes. Three hapless adventurers have agreed to deliver a cargo of vintage Champagne from Australia to Tahiti. As they set sail for their destination, however, their journey takes a troubling turn when the men discover that the bottles are filled with seawater, and that their ship was meant to sink en route. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robbie Coltrane, Steven Mackintosh, (more)
- 1997
This downbeat Welsh drama is set in a mining town that's been crushed by an economic collapse. Sid (Steven MacKintosh), Gwenny (Lisa Palfrey), and Boyo (Matthew Rhys) are three grown siblings who must care for their emotionally unstable mother (Sian Phillips) as they try to scrape together a living. Fascinated with American culture, the siblings emulate the hard-living lifestyle of the Beat Generation authors of the 1950s; their mother has told them that their father moved to the United States 15 years ago, and they often write him, hoping to someday join him there. However, he never returns their messages, and no one can explain why. Desperate for money, Sid and Boyo learn that a coal mine in a nearby town is looking for workers, but their mother is terrified that her children will abandon her and begs them not to go. Eventually, Gwenny and Sid, both desperate for comfort, fall into an incestuous relationship. House of America was the first theatrical feature for director Marc Evans after a number of television films; he was the recipient of the "Best Directorial Debut" award at the 1997 Stockholm Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Helen Mirren returns as police detective Jane Tennison in the fifth cycle of the award-winning television series Prime Suspect. Tennison is transferred to Manchester, where her superiors, unsure of what to do with her, initially put her in the public relations department, explaining police work to schoolchildren. Tennison wants a more substantial assignment, and she gets her wish when she is sent out to investigate the murder of a drug pusher. But Tennison quickly discovers the case is more complex than she imagined; a 14-year-old boy has claimed responsibility for the murder, but she believes the true culprit is a man known as "The Street" (Steven Mackintosh), who controls Manchester's drug traffic and has a number of lieutenants to cover his tracks. Tennison also finds herself in potentially hot water when she becomes romantically involved with DCS Ballinger (John McArdle), who is her superior -- and also a married man. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, John McArdle, (more)
- 1995
The Grotesque (aka Grave Indiscretion, aka Gentleman Don't Eat Poets) is a very black, very British comedy that puts an unusual and perversely entertaining spin on the classic tea-cup-and-intrigue mystery. Sir Hugo Coal (Alan Bates) is a grumpy, eccentric English gentleman (and self-styled paleontologist) obsessed with reconstructing a dinosaur skeleton with bones dredged up from a nearby moor. He is also penniless, and so must live vicariously off the inheritance of his smoldering American wife Harriet (Theresa Russell). Enter: the crafty and secretive Fledge (Sting) and his wife and co-conspirator Doris (Trudie Styler) the new Coal family servants. Fledge immediately sets his sights on Harriet and the Coal fortune, Doris on the household wine cellar. When Hugo and Harriet's daughter Cleo (Lena Headey) announces her engagement to demure poet Sidney Giblet (Steven Mackintosh), Hugo is less than pleased, but not for long, since Sidney is murdered soon after and, we learn, his body gruesomely disposed of. As the rivalry between Fledge and Hugo escalates, Cleo, the police, and the poet's shrewd mother Mrs. Giblet (Anna Massey) follow a trail of clues from the swampy, bone-littered moor to the Coal pig sties and finally (rather horribly) back to the Coal dinner table. Though criticized for its irreverent humor and somewhat ambiguous ending, The Grotesque is worth a watch. Sting and his real-life partner Trudie Styler (who co-produced the film) are both wonderful as the loathsome, manipulative servants, as is Anna Massey as the poet's investigative mother. The real stars of the film, however, are not the actors, but the dense, ornamental interiors provided by Jan Roelfs and Michael Seirton. Every corner of the Coal mansion is littered with artifacts and art objects, every frame crawling with worms, frogs, and reptiles. Like a Dutch still life, The Grotesque is simultaneously repellent and attractive, a painterly assemblage of morbidity and dramatic artifice. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1994
Based on author Ruth Rendell's novel of the same name, A Dark Adapted Eye follows the jealous and arguably insane path of the domineering Vera Hillyard (Celia Imrie), whose obsessive need to control her sons (the older is prone to demonstrating decidedly aggressive behavior, the younger may or may not be legitimate) and daughter plays a prominent role in her own undoing. Meanwhile, her manipulative sister, Eden (Sophie Ward), ultimately provokes Vera into what the community believes to be the deliberate murder of a child. Directed by Tim Fywell, the film also features Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Durr, Guy Witcher, and Robin Ellis. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Bonham Carter, Celia Imrie, (more)
Twelfth century warrior-turned-monk Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) tackles another murder mystery in the 90-minute drama "The Sanctuary Sparrow." A prominent goldsmith is robbed and murdered during his son's wedding. Accused of the crime, traveling juggler Walter (Roy Barraclough) takes refuge in Shrewbury Abbey. Believing in the juggler's innocence, Cadfael uses his scientific know-how to scrutinize the clues at hand -- and comes to the unpleasant conclusion that the actual murderer is someone he knows all too well. Adapted by Russell Lewis from the novel by Ellis Peters, "The Sanctuary Sparrow" aired in England on June 5, 1994, then ran in the U.S. as part of the PBS anthology Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This British parody is the last film of famed television writer Dennis Potter. The story centers upon a terribly tacky British horror film "Smoke Rings," which featured the screaming talents of the ambitious, sexy model and starlet Mandy Mason, who mysteriously died soon after the film was produced. U.S. producer James Boyce and his wife Amber, a Cockney fluffhead, are staying in a rented home in England. Amber's mother is Mandy Mason. Harris is the lawyer who found the rental for the Boyce's. His favorite film is "Smoke Rings," and he still has a crush on the late Miss Mason. When he attends a dinner with the Boyce's he is delighted to find that his favorite film is the midnight feature on the television. A few days later, Amber begins to exhibit disturbing behavior--behavior which parallels that of her mother, and of her mother's character in "Smoke Rings." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Carter, Louise Germaine, (more)
- 1989
This full-blooded TV adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island was written, produced and directed by Frasier Heston. His father, Charlton Heston plays Long John Silver. Eschewing the cuteness of Wallace Beery and the unadulterated ham of Robert Newton, Heston plays the character as written: a cold, crafty, cunning rogue, by turns charming and deadly, but never to be underestimated. The plot adheres with utter fidelity to the Stevenson novel, beginning with innkeeper's son Jim Hawkins (Christian Bale) finding himself in possession of a treasure map from the doomed Captain Billy Bones (Oliver Reed). In the company of Dr. Livesey (Julian Glover) and Squire Trelawny (Richard Johnson), Jim ships out on the Hispaniola, in search of gold doubloons and pieces of eight. Hand-picking the crew for this mission is the ship's one-legged cook Long John Silver, who fully intends to mutiny, kill the treasure hunters, and claim the gold for himself. Featured in the cast are Clive Woods as Captain Smollett, Christopher Lee as Blind Pew, and Nicholas Amer as addled hermit Ben Gunn. Treasure Island premiered January 22, 1990, over the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Robert Ashby guest stars in the Doctor Who adventure "Timelash" as the Borad, a mutant dictator. Hoping to wipe out the population of his own planet so that he can create a new, "superior" race, the Borad declares war on a neighboring world. Those who oppose his plans are exiled to a time corridor called the Timelash -- which is where the Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) have arrived to rescue an old friend. Written by Glen McCoy, the two-part "Timelash" originally aired on March 9 and March 16, 1985; it has since been edited into a four-part serial for American television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, (more)
