Made to coincide with Liverpool's year of culture,OF TIME AND THE CITY is an impeccably made,edited and narrated personal dissertation by Terence Davies on his native city.
It isn't really a documentary,despite the excess of grainy but fascinating historical film footage of Liverpool of bygone days,which takes up over 90% of the running time.In such circumstances,the choice of music and words to accompany this vintage imagery is profusely vital to keep interest alive,but Davies is more than equal to the task.His gloriously rich,tremulous voice,quoting his own and other poetic expressions, is perfectly supported by immaculately chosen classical music,with a sparse few pop songs somewhat reluctantly included.Davies' lament for simpler,better days compared to contemporary times could have easily fallen into the trap of sentiment,but is actually often very moving because of the stunning juxtaposition of the spoken word,imagery and music.
But all memories involved are not necessarily happy ones;his musings on his difficulties with his religion (catholicism),his sexuality,the 1953 coronation,and the gradual decline of working-class communities from the 1960's onwards shows a bitterness,pessimism and self-loathing,but which at least is expressed with a very deep intelligence and an insightful,trenchant wit.His distaste for the Merseybeat era,with footage (and mute footage at that) from The Beatles only sketchily incorporated (there is but a brief musical clip of The Swinging Blue Jeans included) seems as profound as his adoration for most classical composers,exuberantly celebrated on the soundtrack.
However,his choice of one non-classical track,'He Ain't Heavy,He's My Brother' (by The Hollies),in relation to footage of the Korean war (and his elder brother's service there) is a trifle misjudged,as is occasionally the superfluous examples of poetry quoted from various authors.It is often the case that Davies' own ruminations are far more edifying,and the immaculately filmed footage from the Liverpool of today is perhaps just a bit too fleeting,but still manage to show his considerable skill as a director.
Nevertheless,OF TIME AND THE CITY is a hugely impressive artistic essay by a scandalously neglected filmmaker (the UK usually handles great talents in this flippant manner),and is worthy of comparison to other poetic British documentarists of the past like Humphrey Jennings and John Grierson.
RATING:8 out of 10.
It isn't really a documentary,despite the excess of grainy but fascinating historical film footage of Liverpool of bygone days,which takes up over 90% of the running time.In such circumstances,the choice of music and words to accompany this vintage imagery is profusely vital to keep interest alive,but Davies is more than equal to the task.His gloriously rich,tremulous voice,quoting his own and other poetic expressions, is perfectly supported by immaculately chosen classical music,with a sparse few pop songs somewhat reluctantly included.Davies' lament for simpler,better days compared to contemporary times could have easily fallen into the trap of sentiment,but is actually often very moving because of the stunning juxtaposition of the spoken word,imagery and music.
But all memories involved are not necessarily happy ones;his musings on his difficulties with his religion (catholicism),his sexuality,the 1953 coronation,and the gradual decline of working-class communities from the 1960's onwards shows a bitterness,pessimism and self-loathing,but which at least is expressed with a very deep intelligence and an insightful,trenchant wit.His distaste for the Merseybeat era,with footage (and mute footage at that) from The Beatles only sketchily incorporated (there is but a brief musical clip of The Swinging Blue Jeans included) seems as profound as his adoration for most classical composers,exuberantly celebrated on the soundtrack.
However,his choice of one non-classical track,'He Ain't Heavy,He's My Brother' (by The Hollies),in relation to footage of the Korean war (and his elder brother's service there) is a trifle misjudged,as is occasionally the superfluous examples of poetry quoted from various authors.It is often the case that Davies' own ruminations are far more edifying,and the immaculately filmed footage from the Liverpool of today is perhaps just a bit too fleeting,but still manage to show his considerable skill as a director.
Nevertheless,OF TIME AND THE CITY is a hugely impressive artistic essay by a scandalously neglected filmmaker (the UK usually handles great talents in this flippant manner),and is worthy of comparison to other poetic British documentarists of the past like Humphrey Jennings and John Grierson.
RATING:8 out of 10.