How did the director of Guy Ritchie Style: Cards, Money, Two Smoke Barrels and The Gentlemen make the world fall in love with British gangsters?

When it comes to crime comedies with a unique style, Guy Ritchie is in the game. He was expelled from school for dyslexia, expelled from another school for distributing illegal substances, worked as a courier, but from his student days he dreamed of a big movie and immersed himself in it at the end of the second decade of his life. He entered the industry beautifully and loudly (in its best preserved tradition ever) with his feature film debut called “Cards, Money, Two Barrels of Cigarettes”. He did not have to pump his talent for a long time and prove it to others: the film became an international hit, grossing $ 25 million at the box office in the UK and securing the status of Guy Ritchie, receiving 12 international awards. the most promising directors of his time.

Today’s birthday boy is 54 years behind! – More than two dozen movies (notably “Lock, Stock, Two Smoke Barrels” and “Snatch”) in the cinema for over 20 years, some of which are already classics. Both in form and content.

A bloody aristocrat – Kate Middleton’s seven cousins ​​for a moment – reinvented British cinema and made the whole world fall in love with it, making his work recognizable from the very first minutes: this is the original way of shooting with parallel and clip editing. A non-linear, sometimes confusing, and multi-layered plot, carefully selected actors (he literally found Jason Statham on the street where he makes a living), the aphorism of excerpted dialogues, the black and sarcastic humor, the criminal world, the soundtracks, the strong accent of gypsies and the cockney talk of gangsters from the East Coast, special attention to the headlines and, of course, catchy visual solutions.

But if at first Guy Ritchie, in a sense, made candid caricatures of the British (a cup of tea, bad weather, and fish and chips are typical clichés about London that a single director’s work cannot do), then he did. A brand that Hollywood loves very much. Moreover, his films are filled not only with crime romance and London atmosphere, but also with special grace and snobbery, which is especially noticeable in The Gentlemen; from characters to rivers of blood to elegant raincoats that do not get dirty. Yes, a combination of manners and brutal character – the entire universe of Guy Ritchie. And his visualization will even rate James Bond costumes, forgive us Agent 007.

These are leather raincoats in “Cards, Money, Two Barrels of Cigarettes” on one side, classic British trench coats and camel coats with dark collar trim, and leather panama with a vest over Brad Pitt’s shirt on the other. Pin-up suits and matching gloves in “Snatch”, “Revolver”, images that fit the characters perfectly in “Rock and Roller”, a dark turtleneck and leather jacket to match the Soviet spy in “Agents of ANKL.” and of course The Gentlemen, which takes the best from Guy Ritchie’s previous work.

On one of the most stylish films of 2019, the director worked with costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who has credited Zack Snyder’s Justice League, 300, Watchmen, Aladdin, and American Hustle (for that Oscar nomination). Plaid wool, cashmere, and silk suits at Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), tailored vests, chunky knit cardigans and even ties at Raymond (Charlie Hunnam), leather jackets with fur collars, and Christian Louboutin leopard loafers at Dry appeared. A mix of sports and streetwear, Eye (Henry Golding) at Coach (Colin Farrell) in 1980s plaid sweatpants and oversized vintage glasses, Fletcher (Hugh Grant) and Ralph in a custom-worn leather jacket embodied in Balmain, the sophisticated monochrome. In Rosalind (Michelle Dockery), Lauren dresses Carolina Herrera and Stella McCartney. The costumes in The Gentlemen aren’t just for a pretty picture, here they directly reflect the characters’ characters: a gold chain with a necklace for the next-gen Dry Eye, and 2140 Wayfarers with brown lenses for the classic Ray-Ban Retro fan Fletcher.

Of course, there were also questionable episodes in Guy Ritchie’s history: “King Arthur’s Sword”, for example, Warner Bros. $150 million lost, but released two years later, Aladdin managed to revive the director’s career and let him return to his favorite crime (not all fairy tales were filmed). He does not plan to stop and is already in post-production with Jason Statham the new action movie “Five Eyes” – it seems, the eternal hero of his films – and the series “Gentlemen”, which is only in it. development. Yes, what Guy Ritchie has certainly accomplished is to show the wrong side of Foggy Albion in his works in his best and most beautiful incarnation.