After serving seven years in prison, the smalltime criminal George (Bob Hoskins) is released. He seeks out his daughter but his ex-wife does not allow him to talk to her. His friend Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) meets George and gives his Jaguar that he kept for him. George is impressed with the changing in the neighborhood while Thomas explains the new reality. George is hired by his former boss Mortwell (Michael Caine) to work as the driver and bodyguard of the high-class call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson). In the beginning, George is misfit for the position and does not get along with Simone; but gradually he befriends and falls in unrequited love with her. Simone looks for someone on the streets of the King's Cross district (red light district of London in the 80's) and soon she asks George to help her to find the prostitute Cathy (Kate Hardie). George is involved with the underworld of prostitution and is chased by the dangerous pimp Anderson (Clarke Peters). When he finds Cathy, he discovers the connection of Simone to her.

"Mona Lisa" is a melancholic love story in an environment of low-lives and losers in the underworld of London. The beginning of this movie is a drama entwined with romance and ends a thriller. The good-hearted George is a needy small-time criminal, naive in many moments that falls in love with the prostitute Simone. Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson and Michael Caine have magnificent performances. Nat King Cole´s song gives a touch of class to his great film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Mona Lisa"

Note: On 17 July 2018 I saw this film again.

MONA LISA is a classic British film of the 1980s and a film with a great sense of place; one of those movies where you get to see the true London, not the sanitised, Hollywood version. From the high-class dwellings of Kensington to the grubby streets of Soho, here's the capital in all its glory - and there's even time for a road-trip to Brighton (with references to BRIGHTON ROCK) alongside!

Locations aside, this is a fine little film, one with a literate script and decent direction by Neil Jordan. Inevitably, the stand-out thing in the movie is the late, lamented Bob Hoskins, delivering a knock-out performance full of vitality and vigour. Hoskins plays a chauffeur who finds himself caught up in a dark and violent world of prostitution and gangsters.

MONA LISA is a film which subverts expectations and offers no happy endings. Instead, what we get is a gritty, slice-of-life drama, which at the same time offers up the requisite thrills and spills of the thriller genre (watch out for Clarke Peters as a truly nasty pimp). Alongside Hoskins, we get compelling turns from Cathy Tyson and the reliable Michael Caine in one of his bad guy turns, along with a young Robbie Coltrane, and some brief flashes of violence inspired by TAXI DRIVER. MONA LISA is film-making as it should be: a movie that shines a spotlight on human existence and tells a story about real people, warts and all.

George (Bob Hoskins) gets out of prison but his wife won't let him see his daughter. Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) is his friend from the old days. Times have changed. The only job he can get is to drive high-priced call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson) for local gangster Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine). George and Simone don't get along at first. Simone talks George into looking for young prostitute Cathy but he befriends abused May (Sammi Davis) instead. Meanwhile Denny wants George to find out what Simone is doing with one particular client.

Cathy Tyson is electric in her character. Bob Hoskins is great but his character is conveniently written dumb sometimes. At times, he's too naive like crashing in on one of Simone's tricks. I don't know what exactly he expects to see in that room. Sammi Davis is absolutely heart-breaking. The movie is a little uneven at times but the two leads are great.