LAYER CAKE
A slick crime thriller about the top and bottom ends of drug dealing in the UK and Europe, this British film is about a businessman ‘who just happens to deal in cocaine’. Played by a svelte-looking Daniel Craig, he is never called by name and in the credits is simply XXXX. He’s a smooth operator, apparently on top of his mid-level game, with several ‘rules’ of good business that allow him to remain firmly in denial about the consequences of his business dealings: ‘never get too greedy’, ‘never mix with the end-user’ and ‘never associate with loud, wannabe-noticed characters’. His plan to retire young is interfered with by Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), the boss to whose tune XXXX dances. The rule ‘always pay your supplier promptly’ – has XXXX obeying when Jimmy summons him to a meeting.
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