\W. wahstcoek film
‘WHO CARES ABOUT AMY WINEHOUSE OR GEORGE MICHAEL?’
iverpool echo
Distant Voices, Still Lives and House of Mirth director Terence Davies talks to Tom Dawson about his new documentary celebrating his childhood home
f Time and the City is an idiosyncratic and deeply personal documentary essay. which draws on vivid archival footage and some inspired musical selections (everything from Mahler to Peggy Lee). it's narrated by Terence Davies. who peppers his commentary with quotations from his favourite writers (TS Eliot. Ali Houseman. Chekhov). his tone ranging from the affectionate to the sarcastic. the melancholic to the outraged. However. when Davies was initially approached by the producer Sol Papadopoulos to make a low-budget digital film to commemorate Liverpool‘s status as a European City of Culture. he turned down the project. ‘I said “No‘”. explains the 63-year—old filmmaker. ‘I didn‘t want to do any more fiction films set in Liverpool. I said what might be interesting to do was a subjective documentary about the Liverpool I knew. until I left in 1973. My template would be Humphrey Jennings‘s Listen to Britain ( 1942). which doesn't spell things out and in only If) minutes captures the essence of being British. I made it clear that the film would be a subjective vision. That’s why I don’t mention the Toxteth riots: I didn’t live there
and it didn‘t have any effect on me. What people of
my generation don’t realise is that that when you grow up in a city like Liverpool. you only knew your little environment and nothing else. Toxteth was far away.‘
Returning to a city he‘d left some 35 years earlier was a ‘strange experience‘ for Davies. He recalls walking past what used to be a post office on Victoria Street. where he used to buy insurance stamps in his
42 THE LIST 1&0 Oct 4.15 Nov 2008
first job as a shipping clerk. Now it's a shopping mall. whilst his parish Catholic church. which seated some 2.()()() worshippers. today attracts just a handful of regulars.
Davies admits that there is so much he doesn’t recognise about today‘s Britain ~- he hemoans the decline in manners. the way the linglish language is
treated ‘with such contempt”. the lack of respect for
cinema. and the subservience to American popular culture. lt‘s contemporary pop music though for which he reserves his greatest scorn. 'I really do detest it‘. he exclaims. ‘lt‘s commercially grotesque noise. performed by people of no discernible talent. The lyrics are so banal. Who cares about Amy Winehouse or George Michael? A minor song by Cole Porter or Lorenz Hart is infinitely superior.‘ liven the Beatles are summarily dismissed in ()l'iime and the City for resembling a ‘firm of provincial solicitors.‘
Yet. to quote Peter Mandelson. Davies is a lighter. not a quitter. He has three features in the pipeline. including a present-day romantic comedy set in London and Paris and an adaptation of the l‘)3()s Scottish novel Sunset Song. Before making ()iiime and the City. he feared his career was over.
Now I feel worthwhile again. I‘ve got a few more things to say and I'd like to say them. I‘m ()3. and I think that making those three films will be enough. Then I won‘t mind stopping.’
Of Time and The City is on selected release from Fri 31 Oct. See review, right.
THE BEST FILM &VDVD RELEASES
>l<
=3 Hunger Artist Steve McQueen's seminal account of the last six weeks in the life of provisional IRA member and hunger strike activist Bobby Sands. See feature, page 18 and review, page 43. Selected release from Fri 37 Oct.
it Of Time and the City Terence Davies' eccentric scouse documentary. A touching and strange treat. See interview, left and review, right. GFT. Glasgow and Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 31 Oct.
at Valerio Zurlini Retrospective of films by enigmatic, little known Italian filmmaker whose work is ripe for reinterpretation. Highlights include Family Diary, Black Jesus and The Professor. See preview, page 45. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Mon 3 Nov and GFf, Glasgow from Sun 9 Nov. $ Gomorrah Outstanding pseudo documentary mafia thriller. Cameo, Edinburgh, now showing.
it The Romance of Astrea and Celadon Matinee only outing for Eric Rohmer's latest pastoral romance, this time about the romance between a shepherd and a shepherdess. If you like Rohmer's highly stylised films then this is definitely worth catching. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 37 Oct— Thu 6 Nov.
it La Zona Mysterious vigilante thriller set in Mexico's gated suburban communities. GFf, Glasgow from Fri 7 Nov.
2%! Unrelated Excellent drama about grief and boy seduction central ltaly. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 7—Thu 73 Nov.
2: Histoire(s) Du Cinema Jean-Luc Godard's four and a half hour documentary lecture on the history of cinema made up of a series of short films Godard made between 1988- 98. Perplexing, odd and deeply challenging this needs to be seen to be believed. See review, page 58. Out now (Artificial Eye).