Mona Lisa 4K 1986 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

After serving his time, petty thief George lands a job as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Simone, a high-earning Black prostitute. Unfortunately, he finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her.

Review 4K Movie

I love the way Neil Jordan tells his stories. I haven’t seen them all, but my gut tells me that *Mona Lisa* is the best—I can’t speak for his entire filmography, only for myself—but for me, it’s the best, something special, I suppose… And it will remain that way, no matter how much time passes.

George (Bob Hoskins) spent seven years in prison and, as usual, doesn’t quite understand what’s going on around him when he’s released. New businesses, new technologies—he risks being left “out of the game,” but as George himself notes, “the mob owes him,” so they hire him as a chauffeur for a high-class prostitute who exudes the aura of a pagan goddess named Simone (the equally captivating Katie Tyson—this is her moment to shine). At first they don’t get along and argue, but George is willing to make concessions; Simone has captivated him with her aloofness, which doesn’t fit the image of a prostitute with her proud bearing, so George, like a little pageboy, calls her “lady.” It’s unthinkable, but why not, especially since the actors play it out like clockwork, never missing a beat; they’ve created multidimensional characters deeply etched into the fabric of cinema.

The theme of promises, their fulfillment, attitudes toward them, and the high hopes—those that people, regardless of themselves, associate with them—despite the six-year gap, brings Jordan’s two films—“Mona Lisa” and “A Cruel Game”—closer together, turning them into spiritual twins. Neil extracts promises from the characters—good people—and watches to see how they will fulfill them. What lengths they will go to for this, because, well... how many times are promises made, how many times are they forgotten, and cinema is a little window, an answer to how things might be...

Simon, as much as possible, elevates the image of a cheap pimp, and then extracts a promise from George to find her friend—a young prostitute and drug addict who remains on the streets, while all of Simon’s clientele are staying in expensive hotels. Naturally, George won’t do this for nothing; he’s hoping for something in return, because it won’t be an easy task—to track down a headless girl. And George draws the strength for this little man to turn the snake-infested world upside down, to stand up to his bosses and overlords, from his great hopes. Not everything is just like that.

And here Neil Jordan appears again, making a knight’s move (which is also in *The Cruel Game*), revealing—as a Polaroid photo shakes in the air—an irrefutable fact that stuns the protagonist. But that’s not the main point—it’s not the knowledge of this fact, but how the hero will accept it. And here the twin brothers diverge, albeit not by much, but still. In *The Cruel Game*, there is hope for a fairy tale, all because there is the extraordinary Dil, and she certainly would never give up. “Mona Lisa” is more realistic, sad, like an ancient adventure, a failed love story ending with a long sigh of “ehhhh…,” but still with a smile, with the realization that you are not alone and there is someone close to you with whom you can share this story.