NYC Weekend Watch: World Cinema Project, Peeping Tom, The Long Day Closes, the Before Trilogy & More
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Anthology Film Archives
The films of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project are screening, while a Jean Cocteau program runs in Essential Cinema.
Film Forum
Michael Powell’s career-killing masterwork Peeping Tom plays in a long-overdue restoration, while Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil continues; “Hitchcock’s ’50s” runs through arguably the director’s greatest decade; Kirikou and the Sorceress plays this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with the Before trilogy on 35mm and Feast of the Epiphany; prints of They Live and Holiday show this weekend.
Roxy Cinema
The Josh Safdie-presented The Gods of Times Square plays on Sunday, while The Long Day Closes and Dogtooth show on 35mm; “City Dudes” returns on Saturday.
IFC Center
Distant Voices, Still Lives continues its run while Ocean’s Twelve,...
Anthology Film Archives
The films of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project are screening, while a Jean Cocteau program runs in Essential Cinema.
Film Forum
Michael Powell’s career-killing masterwork Peeping Tom plays in a long-overdue restoration, while Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil continues; “Hitchcock’s ’50s” runs through arguably the director’s greatest decade; Kirikou and the Sorceress plays this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with the Before trilogy on 35mm and Feast of the Epiphany; prints of They Live and Holiday show this weekend.
Roxy Cinema
The Josh Safdie-presented The Gods of Times Square plays on Sunday, while The Long Day Closes and Dogtooth show on 35mm; “City Dudes” returns on Saturday.
IFC Center
Distant Voices, Still Lives continues its run while Ocean’s Twelve,...
- 11/24/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
From Distant Voices, Still Lives to Benediction, the lyrical work of the late director was suffused with the ‘ecstasy’ of cinema – and his fraught Liverpool childhood
Last month, British cinema lost one of its greatest and most distinctive screen poets. From an astonishing trilogy of early short films (Children; Madonna and Child; Death and Transfiguration – all available on BFI Player) to his final feature, Benediction (2021), Terence Davies seamlessly blended personal recollections with wider universal truths. His subjects ranged from autobiographically inspired portraits of postwar working-class life in Liverpool to sweeping literary adaptations and intimate portraits of real-life authors, most remarkably the American poet Emily Dickinson, brilliantly played by Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion, 2016. Yet each of his films felt deeply, distinctly personal. No wonder Jack Lowden, who played Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction, told me that after immersing himself in his subject’s diaries in preparation for the role, he...
Last month, British cinema lost one of its greatest and most distinctive screen poets. From an astonishing trilogy of early short films (Children; Madonna and Child; Death and Transfiguration – all available on BFI Player) to his final feature, Benediction (2021), Terence Davies seamlessly blended personal recollections with wider universal truths. His subjects ranged from autobiographically inspired portraits of postwar working-class life in Liverpool to sweeping literary adaptations and intimate portraits of real-life authors, most remarkably the American poet Emily Dickinson, brilliantly played by Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion, 2016. Yet each of his films felt deeply, distinctly personal. No wonder Jack Lowden, who played Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction, told me that after immersing himself in his subject’s diaries in preparation for the role, he...
- 11/4/2023
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Gillian Anderson paid tribute to Terence Davies, the British filmmaker who directed one of her most acclaimed performances for “The House of Mirth,” crediting him with giving her “my first ‘proper’ film job.” Davies died on Oct. 7 at the age of 77 following a short illness.
“The House of Mirth,” an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of the same name, saw Anderson portray Lily Bart, a tragic socialite whose quest for love and financial security leads her to ruin. Davies wrote the script, in addition to directing the film.
The role came to Anderson at a time when she was best known for portraying FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the paranormal series “The X-Files.” The film provided an opportunity for the actor to showcase her range with a meaty role in a period piece. It was also good news for Davies, with “The House of Mirth” representing a significant...
“The House of Mirth,” an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of the same name, saw Anderson portray Lily Bart, a tragic socialite whose quest for love and financial security leads her to ruin. Davies wrote the script, in addition to directing the film.
The role came to Anderson at a time when she was best known for portraying FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the paranormal series “The X-Files.” The film provided an opportunity for the actor to showcase her range with a meaty role in a period piece. It was also good news for Davies, with “The House of Mirth” representing a significant...
- 10/9/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
“All his major works feel as fresh and relevant as when they were made.”
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was something about how his films...
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was something about how his films...
- 10/9/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
BFI’s Ben Roberts and Cannes head Thierry Fremaux among those to praise Davies, who died aged 77 this weekend.
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was...
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was...
- 10/9/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Terence Davies, the accomplished and thoughtful director behind such films as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House Of Mirth and, most recently, Benediction, about World War II poet Siegfried Sassoon, had died. Davies, who began his career making autobiographical short films but switched to literary adaptations and dramas, which nevertheless kept an emotionally affecting through line. Dying at home after a short illness, Davies was 77.
Born in Liverpool to a large Catholic family (which informed much of his early film work), Davies spent a decade as a clerk before attending Coventry Drama School, and starting to make short films. He followed that up with the National Film School. His three initial shorts are Children, Madonna And Child and Death And Transfiguration all tackled autobiographical stories of emotion and religion.
When he started making feature films, his first two efforts, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes were also inspired by his life,...
Born in Liverpool to a large Catholic family (which informed much of his early film work), Davies spent a decade as a clerk before attending Coventry Drama School, and starting to make short films. He followed that up with the National Film School. His three initial shorts are Children, Madonna And Child and Death And Transfiguration all tackled autobiographical stories of emotion and religion.
When he started making feature films, his first two efforts, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes were also inspired by his life,...
- 10/8/2023
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
Filmmaker died after a short illness, according to his family.
Acclaimed UK filmmaker Terence Davies died today (October 7) aged 77 after a short illness, according to a social media post from his family.
Davies’ best known works include autobiographical films Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992); and literary adaptations The House Of Mirth (2000) with Gillian Anderson, which won the Bafta for best British film; and The Deep Blue Sea (2011) with Rachel Weisz.
His other projects include documentary Of Time And City, which premiered at Cannes in 2008, and A Quiet Passion (2015), based on the life of Emily Dickinson.
His...
Acclaimed UK filmmaker Terence Davies died today (October 7) aged 77 after a short illness, according to a social media post from his family.
Davies’ best known works include autobiographical films Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992); and literary adaptations The House Of Mirth (2000) with Gillian Anderson, which won the Bafta for best British film; and The Deep Blue Sea (2011) with Rachel Weisz.
His other projects include documentary Of Time And City, which premiered at Cannes in 2008, and A Quiet Passion (2015), based on the life of Emily Dickinson.
His...
- 10/7/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Terence Davies, the critically beloved British writer-director who had his international art-house breakthrough with two deeply autobiographical films set in his native Liverpool, England, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, has died. He was 77.
Davies’ official Instagram account confirmed the news Saturday morning, noting that the filmmaker died peacefully at home after a short illness.
Much of Davies’ work is infused with personal emotional experience, reflecting in subtle ways on growing up as a gay, Catholic man in Liverpool in the 1950s and ’60s. The filmmaker directly addressed his childhood in his 2008 feature documentary, Of Time and the City.
Premiering to great acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival that year, the doc recalled both Davies’ own family life and that of the city, using archival footage, his own commentary voiceover, classical music tracks, film clips and excerpts from poetry and literature in an assemblage by turns caustically funny and melancholy,...
Davies’ official Instagram account confirmed the news Saturday morning, noting that the filmmaker died peacefully at home after a short illness.
Much of Davies’ work is infused with personal emotional experience, reflecting in subtle ways on growing up as a gay, Catholic man in Liverpool in the 1950s and ’60s. The filmmaker directly addressed his childhood in his 2008 feature documentary, Of Time and the City.
Premiering to great acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival that year, the doc recalled both Davies’ own family life and that of the city, using archival footage, his own commentary voiceover, classical music tracks, film clips and excerpts from poetry and literature in an assemblage by turns caustically funny and melancholy,...
- 10/7/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Terence Davies, the director of The Long Day Closes and Distant Voices, Still Lives, has died at 77, according to his official social media pages.
Davies died at his home after what was described as a short illness.
Davies directed several films that were considered among the best of the craft in his lifetime. They ranged from The Deep Blue Sea starring Rachel Weisz, to his debut feature, Distant Voices, a look at hs own working-class British upbringing.
His works included acclaim for films like A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, and the Edith Wharton adaptation, House of Mirth, featuring Gillian Anderson.
At the center of his films was his discomfort with being gay, and the ennui of life.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Terence Davies (@terencedaviesofficial)...
Davies died at his home after what was described as a short illness.
Davies directed several films that were considered among the best of the craft in his lifetime. They ranged from The Deep Blue Sea starring Rachel Weisz, to his debut feature, Distant Voices, a look at hs own working-class British upbringing.
His works included acclaim for films like A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, and the Edith Wharton adaptation, House of Mirth, featuring Gillian Anderson.
At the center of his films was his discomfort with being gay, and the ennui of life.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Terence Davies (@terencedaviesofficial)...
- 10/7/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Terence Davies, the British filmmaker known for “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” “The Deep Blue Sea” and “The Long Day Closes,” has died. He was 77.
The news of Davies’ death was shared on his official Instagram page: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Terence Davies, who died peacefully at home after a short illness, today on 7th October 2023.”
Davies was admired for his period films as well as his early autobiographical trilogy about growing up in Liverpool.
“Being in the past makes me feel safe because I understand that world,” he told the Guardian in 2022.
Though his films were widely recognized for their sensitive depictions of gay life, Catholicism and other frequent themes, they didn’t amass a huge number of awards, which he considered in his typically philosophical way. “It would have been nice to be acknowledged by Bafta. Again, there’s also part of...
The news of Davies’ death was shared on his official Instagram page: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Terence Davies, who died peacefully at home after a short illness, today on 7th October 2023.”
Davies was admired for his period films as well as his early autobiographical trilogy about growing up in Liverpool.
“Being in the past makes me feel safe because I understand that world,” he told the Guardian in 2022.
Though his films were widely recognized for their sensitive depictions of gay life, Catholicism and other frequent themes, they didn’t amass a huge number of awards, which he considered in his typically philosophical way. “It would have been nice to be acknowledged by Bafta. Again, there’s also part of...
- 10/7/2023
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Terence Davies, the Liverpool-born director of autobiographical memory pieces like “The Long Day Closes” and “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” has died. He was 77. The English filmmaker passed away peacefully in his home after a short illness on October 7, as confirmed on his official social media pages.
Davies directed several masterpieces in his lifetime, from the sorrowful “The Deep Blue Sea” starring Rachel Weisz as an eternally unhappy seeker of love to his debut feature “Distant Voices,” built on his own closeted working-class British upbringing. You could even say the same about his last film, “Benediction,” starring Jack Lowden as the queer poet Siegfried Sassoon, wrapped around by a coterie of Bright Young Things. He received great acclaim for films like “A Quiet Passion,” starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, as well as the Edith Wharton adaptation “House of Mirth,” led by Gillian Anderson. Serious actors loved working with him,...
Davies directed several masterpieces in his lifetime, from the sorrowful “The Deep Blue Sea” starring Rachel Weisz as an eternally unhappy seeker of love to his debut feature “Distant Voices,” built on his own closeted working-class British upbringing. You could even say the same about his last film, “Benediction,” starring Jack Lowden as the queer poet Siegfried Sassoon, wrapped around by a coterie of Bright Young Things. He received great acclaim for films like “A Quiet Passion,” starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, as well as the Edith Wharton adaptation “House of Mirth,” led by Gillian Anderson. Serious actors loved working with him,...
- 10/7/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
English filmmaker Terence Davies, from painting working-class portraits to sketching urbane artistic figures like Emily Dickinson, has long been public about his discomfort with being gay and his feelings of banality toward life in general. He’s not an especially hopeful storyteller, from the closeted anguish of a Liverpool boy in “The Long Day Closes” to the suicidal Hester Collyer’s unquenchable thirst for passion in “The Deep Blue Sea.”
His pessimistic but searching sensibilities, always hungering for a redemption or answer that can’t be found and then resigning to that lack, find their purest expression in “Benediction.” The riotously well-penned but deeply despairing film is a portrait of World War I-era English poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived a comfortably gay shadow life on the fringes of the Bright Young Things, settled into marriage in middle age, and died a late-minted Catholic, bereft, in 1967. He outlived many of his peers,...
His pessimistic but searching sensibilities, always hungering for a redemption or answer that can’t be found and then resigning to that lack, find their purest expression in “Benediction.” The riotously well-penned but deeply despairing film is a portrait of World War I-era English poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived a comfortably gay shadow life on the fringes of the Bright Young Things, settled into marriage in middle age, and died a late-minted Catholic, bereft, in 1967. He outlived many of his peers,...
- 6/3/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
His second consecutive drama about an iconic poet with a life of inner turmoil, Terence Davies’ Benediction affords the filmmaker canvas to explore queerness more explicitly than he has in decades. It concerns World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi), who was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime.
As the film arrives in theaters, I spoke with Davies about his unique approach to biopics, making his first explicitly gay film in decades, themes of loneliness and conformity in Benediction, the 30th anniversary of The Long Day Closes, and his next project.
The Film Stage: This is your second film about a poet, once again beautifully subverting the structure of a biopic.
As the film arrives in theaters, I spoke with Davies about his unique approach to biopics, making his first explicitly gay film in decades, themes of loneliness and conformity in Benediction, the 30th anniversary of The Long Day Closes, and his next project.
The Film Stage: This is your second film about a poet, once again beautifully subverting the structure of a biopic.
- 6/2/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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Whether heading out to theaters or surfing through streaming services, there’s a lot to watch this June. These include a pair from arthouse favorites Terrence Davies and David Cronenberg, a TV miniseries from one of France’s best directors, a Jennifer Lopez double feature and… did we mention dinosaurs? There will also be dinosaurs. But first, let’s hit the beach.
Fire Island (Hulu, June 3)
Comedian and...
Whether heading out to theaters or surfing through streaming services, there’s a lot to watch this June. These include a pair from arthouse favorites Terrence Davies and David Cronenberg, a TV miniseries from one of France’s best directors, a Jennifer Lopez double feature and… did we mention dinosaurs? There will also be dinosaurs. But first, let’s hit the beach.
Fire Island (Hulu, June 3)
Comedian and...
- 5/31/2022
- by Keith Phipps
- Rollingstone.com
The war poet’s life provides rich material for director Terence Davies to explore his preoccupations with sexuality, religion and the search for redemption
Terence Davies, the writer-director behind such modern classics as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes and more recently Sunset Song, has long been one of the great poets of British cinema. It’s perhaps unsurprising therefore that his films have occasionally focused on the lives of poets: Emily Dickinson in 2016’s A Quiet Passion, and now Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction. Davies’s portrait of Dickinson was a heartfelt paean to a creative talent who went largely unrecognised in her own lifetime. His account of Sassoon’s tribulations is more unforgiving, confronting us with a contradictory character locked in his own private hell – keenly attuned to the horrors of war, yet seemingly unable to change either himself or the world around him, whether through art or action.
Terence Davies, the writer-director behind such modern classics as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes and more recently Sunset Song, has long been one of the great poets of British cinema. It’s perhaps unsurprising therefore that his films have occasionally focused on the lives of poets: Emily Dickinson in 2016’s A Quiet Passion, and now Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction. Davies’s portrait of Dickinson was a heartfelt paean to a creative talent who went largely unrecognised in her own lifetime. His account of Sassoon’s tribulations is more unforgiving, confronting us with a contradictory character locked in his own private hell – keenly attuned to the horrors of war, yet seemingly unable to change either himself or the world around him, whether through art or action.
- 5/22/2022
- by Mark Kermode Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
From a pair of dreamy memoirs about his formative years, an archival documentary that excavated the city in which those years were spent (“Of Time and the City”), and swooning adaptations of the novels and plays that allowed him to make sense of his own wounded soul (“The Deep Blue Sea”), Liverpudlian auteur Terence Davies has established himself as one of the most achingly personal of master filmmakers; this despite his adamant belief that his personal life is “really boring.”
In a 2017 interview with IndieWire, the ever-confessional ex-Catholic insisted he’s “terrified of the world.” Davies spoke about his bitterness at being gay, conceded he’s “too self-conscious” for sex, and repeated a familiar line that any biography written about him would be a leaflet rather than a book. And yet the Emily Dickinson movie that Davies was there to promote is perhaps the most illuminating evidence that all of his films are ultimately self-portraits.
In a 2017 interview with IndieWire, the ever-confessional ex-Catholic insisted he’s “terrified of the world.” Davies spoke about his bitterness at being gay, conceded he’s “too self-conscious” for sex, and repeated a familiar line that any biography written about him would be a leaflet rather than a book. And yet the Emily Dickinson movie that Davies was there to promote is perhaps the most illuminating evidence that all of his films are ultimately self-portraits.
- 9/13/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Terence Davies, that most meticulous of auteurs, returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with “Benediction,” a lush biopic of Siegfried Sassoon, the poet and decorated veteran who became an outspoken critic of World War I. The film should be catnip for Davies admirers. It’s another beautifully composed portrait of genius, repression and loneliness, and a film that compliments his last cinematic outing “A Quiet Passion,” the acclaimed 2016 drama about Emily Dickinson.
“Benediction” stars Jack Lowden as Sassoon and charts his tortured romances with male lovers such as the screen star Ivor Novello, his break with the ruling class over the conduct of the war, as while as his later embrace of religion. Ahead of the film’s debut on Sept. 12, Davies spoke with Variety about what draws him to a project, his hatred for films based on Jane Austen novels and his general amazement that he has managed...
“Benediction” stars Jack Lowden as Sassoon and charts his tortured romances with male lovers such as the screen star Ivor Novello, his break with the ruling class over the conduct of the war, as while as his later embrace of religion. Ahead of the film’s debut on Sept. 12, Davies spoke with Variety about what draws him to a project, his hatred for films based on Jane Austen novels and his general amazement that he has managed...
- 9/7/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Granted, The Berlinale and Efm seem like a thousand years ago, but look, what have we got to look forward to? Not much right now, as everything is being cancelled, so let’s talk about the past Berlinale.
I was just going through my Berlin trades and just discovered that Ben Gibson, all of our favorite leftist renegade, crazy but good educator, producer of I don’t know how many films.”
That the trade press could write such reports about a friend to hang out with at parties at least, without first fact checking and interviewing their longtime colleague/ friend Ben or an actual witness is reprehensible because with a care–less stroke of their pen, they seem to have blocked any academic institution from ever interviewing Ben again. At first Google, the Screen article will appear. The article was next picked up by Variety who later corrected the reported...
I was just going through my Berlin trades and just discovered that Ben Gibson, all of our favorite leftist renegade, crazy but good educator, producer of I don’t know how many films.”
That the trade press could write such reports about a friend to hang out with at parties at least, without first fact checking and interviewing their longtime colleague/ friend Ben or an actual witness is reprehensible because with a care–less stroke of their pen, they seem to have blocked any academic institution from ever interviewing Ben again. At first Google, the Screen article will appear. The article was next picked up by Variety who later corrected the reported...
- 3/17/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The British director of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB), one of Germany’s most prestigious film schools, has stepped down following an incident during the Berlin Film Festival in which he exposed his backside to a woman during a heated argument. The DFFB’s board of trustees and Ben Gibson, a veteran film producer, agreed to end their relationship by mutual consent “for various reasons,” the DFFB said in a statement. Sandra Braun, the DFFB’s administrative manager, will head the academy until further notice. Gibson, whose credits include the 1998 Daniel Craig starrer “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon,” by John Maybury, and Lech Majewski’s 2004 “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” reportedly dropped his pants in anger during an argument with a woman at the DFFB facilities, located in the Sony Center at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, on Feb. 21. In an email to DFFB students cited by Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Gibson wrote that he had allowed himself to be provoked and then “exposed” himself. He described his behavior as a “serious mistake” and apologized for the incident, the paper reported, citing his email. Before taking on the DFFB gig in 2016, Gibson worked at the Australian National Film School from 2014 to 2016 and served as director of the London Film School from 2001 to 2014. He also produced such works as Terrence Davies’ 1992 gay classic “The Long Day Closes,” Derek Jarman’s 1993’s “Wittgenstein,” Carine Adler’s 1997 “Under the Skin” and Jasmin Dizdar’s 1999 “Beautiful People.” The DFFB’s board of trustees, whose members include Chairman Christian Gaebler, head of Berlin’s Senate Chancellery, Vice Chairman Eberhard Junkersdorf of Bioskop Film and Kirsten Niehuus, head of regional funder Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, is to meet soon to consider its next course of action. The board’s members also include Claudia Tronnier of ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel film division, producer Regina Ziegler of Ziegler Film, Detailfilm’s Fabian Gasmia, regional pubcaster RBB’s Martina Zöllner and Iris Brockmann of the Berlin Senate Department of Finance.
- 3/9/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The first person we meet in “Ray & Liz” is elderly Ray (Patrick Romer). Alone in a tiny room, abandoned by his wife Liz (Deirdre Kelly), he has taken to his bed seemingly permanently, waking only long enough to drink as much as it takes to keep himself drunk. He keeps a photo of himself as a young man with his bride stuck to a mirror next to a religious pamphlet that delivers the only foreshadowing this film feels like giving: a Bible verse instructing children to “obey [their] parents in everything.”
“Ray & Liz,” Richard Billingham’s debut feature, punctuates its main action with visits to this room, with the rest of the quietly downcast story taking place during the 1980s, as Ray and Liz descend into poverty, despair, and alcoholism in a council flat outside of Birmingham, England. Their children — Richard and his younger brother Jason — are along for the ride,...
“Ray & Liz,” Richard Billingham’s debut feature, punctuates its main action with visits to this room, with the rest of the quietly downcast story taking place during the 1980s, as Ray and Liz descend into poverty, despair, and alcoholism in a council flat outside of Birmingham, England. Their children — Richard and his younger brother Jason — are along for the ride,...
- 7/19/2019
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
“Ray & Liz” — the haunted and pungent debut feature by photographer Richard Billingham, who’s been dabbling in the form since the late ’90s — feels like watching someone painstakingly build a rusty time machine that only brings them back to their own rotten past. And to what end?
Billingham’s work has always been lauded for its lack of overt beauty; his most acclaimed pictures find his layabout parents cooped up inside the bleakest council flat in all of Thatcher-era Birmingham, the images striking for their deprivation and self-sufficiency. Rather than mine his home life for manufactured poetry, Billingham shot his family with an anthropological flare, as though he’d smuggled a camera into an animal enclosure that the bourgeois art world had only seen from the outside. (Billingham’s 1998 short “Fishtank” has nothing and everything to do with the similarly named Andrea Arnold film that would follow a few years later.
Billingham’s work has always been lauded for its lack of overt beauty; his most acclaimed pictures find his layabout parents cooped up inside the bleakest council flat in all of Thatcher-era Birmingham, the images striking for their deprivation and self-sufficiency. Rather than mine his home life for manufactured poetry, Billingham shot his family with an anthropological flare, as though he’d smuggled a camera into an animal enclosure that the bourgeois art world had only seen from the outside. (Billingham’s 1998 short “Fishtank” has nothing and everything to do with the similarly named Andrea Arnold film that would follow a few years later.
- 7/11/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“Strange that the mind will forget so much of what only this moment is passed, and yet hold clear and bright the memory of what happened years ago, of men and women long since dead…Can I believe my friends all gone when their voices are still a glory in my ears? No. And I will stand to say no again, for they remain a living truth within my mind.”—Huw Morgan, How Green Was My Valley Memory is a singular fascination for Terence Davies. His films are structured not around a traditional narrative, but the seemingly inane trivialities that stick out in a person’s recollection of their lives. They are punctuated not by rousing speeches or any obvious character development, but by things like a lesson on different kinds of erosion, an uneasy moment of sexual guilt in church and a quote from a film. Perhaps the most...
- 12/12/2017
- MUBI
Terence Davies is at once both monolithic and anonymous. A critically revered British filmmaker whose work has yet to catch on with general audiences (perhaps, in part, because his films are so crushingly intimate that it almost feels inappropriate to watch them in public), he’s seldom recognized on the street, and sometimes that might be for the best.
“The other day I was feeling low,” he said, “and I just thought: ‘Why am I making films that, like, three people or a dog go and see?’ I know this is feeble, but it really is killing when someone says ‘What do you do?’ ‘Oh, I make films.’ ‘Well, would I have seen some of them? Would I have heard of you?’ And I say: ‘Well, probably not.’”
Of course, some of our greatest artists are tremendously under-appreciated in their own time, though they may be the only ones who...
“The other day I was feeling low,” he said, “and I just thought: ‘Why am I making films that, like, three people or a dog go and see?’ I know this is feeble, but it really is killing when someone says ‘What do you do?’ ‘Oh, I make films.’ ‘Well, would I have seen some of them? Would I have heard of you?’ And I say: ‘Well, probably not.’”
Of course, some of our greatest artists are tremendously under-appreciated in their own time, though they may be the only ones who...
- 4/20/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The Furious 8 crowd is advised to run for the hills. Terence Davies is a poet of cinema, of images, sounds and rhythms that define a life. Davies films move at a pace demanded by the material, not fidgety audiences. His remarkable debut features – 1988's Distant Voices, Still Lives and 1992's The Long Day Closes – are drawn from his own growing up experiences as the youngest of 10 children in a working-class Catholic family in Liverpool. To deal with an abusive father, he escaped into music and movies.
Just one reason that...
Just one reason that...
- 4/12/2017
- Rollingstone.com
The poet Emily Dickinson lived by necessity in a world of her own, and the director Terence Davies tries to capture the strict limits and enclosure of that world in “A Quiet Passion,” a film that seeks to re-create a way of speaking among 19th century aesthetes. The degree of difficulty here is steep, and Davies has not been entirely successful in making Dickinson’s milieu come to full and convincing life. Davies has proven himself a master when it comes to the depiction of childhood and solitude, particularly in “Distant Voices, Still Lives” and “The Long Day Closes,” which treat his.
- 4/11/2017
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Terence Davies to Catherine Marchand: "I don't want them to look as though they'd just come from costume." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Terence Davies, the esteemed director of The House Of Mirth; Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Deep Blue Sea; The Long Day Closes, and Sunset Song spoke with me on the costume designs by Catherine Marchand for his latest film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson with Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie. Catherine Bailey, Keith Carradine, Duncan Duff, Joanna Bacon, Benjamin Wainwright, Sara Vertongen, Emma Bell, Jodhi May, and Noémie Schellens head a dandy supporting cast.
Hearing Claire Bloom read Dickinson, kidney disease, and Jean-Pierre Léaud in Albert Serra's The Death Of Louis Xiv come up in the second part of a series on my journey with Terence Davies.
Cynthia Nixon plays the scenes of the attacks beautifully. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Anne-Katrin Titze: A word about the costumes.
Terence Davies, the esteemed director of The House Of Mirth; Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Deep Blue Sea; The Long Day Closes, and Sunset Song spoke with me on the costume designs by Catherine Marchand for his latest film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson with Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie. Catherine Bailey, Keith Carradine, Duncan Duff, Joanna Bacon, Benjamin Wainwright, Sara Vertongen, Emma Bell, Jodhi May, and Noémie Schellens head a dandy supporting cast.
Hearing Claire Bloom read Dickinson, kidney disease, and Jean-Pierre Léaud in Albert Serra's The Death Of Louis Xiv come up in the second part of a series on my journey with Terence Davies.
Cynthia Nixon plays the scenes of the attacks beautifully. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Anne-Katrin Titze: A word about the costumes.
- 2/11/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
When Debbie Reynolds died on Wednesday at the age of 84, she had been famous for more than 65 years. A multi-talented star who fixed her place in the Hollywood firmaments when she was just 19 years old (the same age that her daughter, the late Carrie Fisher, was introduced to the world as Princess Leia), Reynolds’ life was the stuff of Tinseltown legend, and she never seemed to grow tired of the spotlight. On the contrary, she was a force of nature until the bitter end, brightening almost every corner of showbiz at one point or another during her decades on stage and screen.
Read More: Debbie Reynolds’ Co-Stars and More Celebrities Mourn Her Passing on Twitter
A hit recording artist, an Oscar (and Tony)-nominated leading lady, a Las Vegas lounge sensation, and a dedicated collector of movie memorabilia (some of her most heroic efforts were dedicated to the preservation of...
Read More: Debbie Reynolds’ Co-Stars and More Celebrities Mourn Her Passing on Twitter
A hit recording artist, an Oscar (and Tony)-nominated leading lady, a Las Vegas lounge sensation, and a dedicated collector of movie memorabilia (some of her most heroic efforts were dedicated to the preservation of...
- 12/29/2016
- by Anne Thompson, David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Liz Shannon Miller and William Earl
- Indiewire
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Anthropoid (Sean Ellis)
Throw a dart at a map, and you can make a World War II movie set in whatever place you hit. Of course, pretty much any film about the Good War that doesn’t focus on the American (sometimes British) point of view of the conflict will probably seem “random” to the mainstream; one odd side-effect of Hollywood’s Oscar-baity love of the era. But there...
Anthropoid (Sean Ellis)
Throw a dart at a map, and you can make a World War II movie set in whatever place you hit. Of course, pretty much any film about the Good War that doesn’t focus on the American (sometimes British) point of view of the conflict will probably seem “random” to the mainstream; one odd side-effect of Hollywood’s Oscar-baity love of the era. But there...
- 11/4/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Listen to Anna Karina‘s recent one-hour talk at Film Forum (and read highlights from her trip to BAMcinematek):
The Criterion Collection’s August 2016 line-up has been unveiled (click titles for more details):
Yorgos Lanthimos analyzes a scene from The Lobster and visit The Criterion Collection:
David Bordwell looks at the films of Terence Davies, and Mark Kermode discusses his five favorites from the director:
If you needed proof of the unpredictable, zigzag influence of Hollywood cinema, look no farther than the films of Terence Davies. When he saw his first film, Singin’ in the Rain (1952), he knew utter rapture, and his early years were illuminated...
Listen to Anna Karina‘s recent one-hour talk at Film Forum (and read highlights from her trip to BAMcinematek):
The Criterion Collection’s August 2016 line-up has been unveiled (click titles for more details):
Yorgos Lanthimos analyzes a scene from The Lobster and visit The Criterion Collection:
David Bordwell looks at the films of Terence Davies, and Mark Kermode discusses his five favorites from the director:
If you needed proof of the unpredictable, zigzag influence of Hollywood cinema, look no farther than the films of Terence Davies. When he saw his first film, Singin’ in the Rain (1952), he knew utter rapture, and his early years were illuminated...
- 5/17/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Spend “A Weekend with Amy Heckerling” when Johnny Dangerously and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screen this Saturday, while Look Who’s Talking and Clueless show on Sunday. All are on 35mm.
For “Welcome to Metrograph: A-z,” see a print of Philippe Garrel‘s The Inner Scar on Friday and Sunday; André de Toth‘s...
Metrograph
Spend “A Weekend with Amy Heckerling” when Johnny Dangerously and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screen this Saturday, while Look Who’s Talking and Clueless show on Sunday. All are on 35mm.
For “Welcome to Metrograph: A-z,” see a print of Philippe Garrel‘s The Inner Scar on Friday and Sunday; André de Toth‘s...
- 5/13/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of the Moving Image
Before his masterful Sunset Song begins its U.S. run, Terence Davies will be given a complete retrospective at MoMI. His self-titled trilogy screens on Saturday and Sunday; the latter day also brings Distant Voices, Still Lives and, with a post-screening Q & A to boot, The Long Day Closes.
Metrograph
“Welcome...
Museum of the Moving Image
Before his masterful Sunset Song begins its U.S. run, Terence Davies will be given a complete retrospective at MoMI. His self-titled trilogy screens on Saturday and Sunday; the latter day also brings Distant Voices, Still Lives and, with a post-screening Q & A to boot, The Long Day Closes.
Metrograph
“Welcome...
- 5/6/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Starting this weekend, Terence Davies will be in New York as the Museum of the Moving Image presents a retrospective of his films, complete but for his latest, A Quiet Passion. He'll be discussing The Long Day Closes and Sunset Song, which opens in the States next week, and there'll be screenings of his Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House of Mirth with Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Lapaglia, Laura Linney, The Neon Bible with Gena Rowlands, Of Time and the City and The Deep Blue Sea with Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. We're gathering odes to one of Britain's greatest directors. » - David Hudson...
- 5/5/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Starting this weekend, Terence Davies will be in New York as the Museum of the Moving Image presents a retrospective of his films, complete but for his latest, A Quiet Passion. He'll be discussing The Long Day Closes and Sunset Song, which opens in the States next week, and there'll be screenings of his Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House of Mirth with Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Lapaglia, Laura Linney, The Neon Bible with Gena Rowlands, Of Time and the City and The Deep Blue Sea with Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. We're gathering odes to one of Britain's greatest directors. » - David Hudson...
- 5/5/2016
- Keyframe
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
The most exciting theater to hit New York in years opens today. They’ll begin with The Purple Rose of Cairo and Taxi Driver on Friday. Saturday and Sunday unbelievably packed, the schedule including The Spirit of the Beehive, Vivre Sa Vie, The Long Day Closes, Femme Fatale, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, and Noah Baumbach‘s...
Metrograph
The most exciting theater to hit New York in years opens today. They’ll begin with The Purple Rose of Cairo and Taxi Driver on Friday. Saturday and Sunday unbelievably packed, the schedule including The Spirit of the Beehive, Vivre Sa Vie, The Long Day Closes, Femme Fatale, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, and Noah Baumbach‘s...
- 3/4/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Let’s start with this obvious point: few cities need another repertory outlet less than New York City, which provides enough decent-to-outstanding options every week (or day) to fully occupy any caring customer. And so when a new theater, Metrograph, was announced this past August, the largely enthusiastic response — people taking note of a good location, a dedication to celluloid presentations and new independent releases, its strong selection of programmers, and other services (e.g. a restaurant and “cinema-dedicated bookshop”) — went hand-in-hand with some people’s skepticism, or at least a certain raising of the eyebrows. The question of necessity was premature, but such is the influx of available material that it should inevitably come up.
It’s safe to say their first selections silenced those skeptics. Metrograph’s slate is strong in a way that’s uncommon; one could say it’s exactly the sort that a cinephile with...
It’s safe to say their first selections silenced those skeptics. Metrograph’s slate is strong in a way that’s uncommon; one could say it’s exactly the sort that a cinephile with...
- 3/2/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Metrograph will open in New York on March 4 with the series Surrender to the Screen: Watching the Moviegoing Experience featuring Terence Davies's The Long Day Closes (1992), Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre sa Vie (1962) and much more before presenting its Jean Eustache retrospective, three films by Frederick Wiseman, Johnnie To's Office and on and on. More goings on: Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow will open and Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson will close the 45th edition of New Directors/New Films. Ebertfest will screen Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul (1925) featuring Paul Robeson's onscreen debut, Paul Cox's new Force of Destiny, Mark Polish and Michael Polish's Northfork (2003) and Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) with Orson Welles. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 2/22/2016
- Keyframe
The Metrograph will open in New York on March 4 with the series Surrender to the Screen: Watching the Moviegoing Experience featuring Terence Davies's The Long Day Closes (1992), Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre sa Vie (1962) and much more before presenting its Jean Eustache retrospective, three films by Frederick Wiseman, Johnnie To's Office and on and on. More goings on: Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow will open and Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson will close the 45th edition of New Directors/New Films. Ebertfest will screen Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul (1925) featuring Paul Robeson's onscreen debut, Paul Cox's new Force of Destiny, Mark Polish and Michael Polish's Northfork (2003) and Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) with Orson Welles. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 2/22/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Piff 39: Five Films Criterion Collection Fans Should See at the Portland International Film Festival
Tomorrow night, the Northwest Film Center kicks off their 39th annual Portland International Film Festival. They’ll be screening Klaus Härö’s The Fencer as the opening night film (unfortunately the screenings are sold out, but there will be an additional showing on Sunday the 14th). Over the course of the next sixteen days there will be over 90 feature films shown around town at various theaters.
This is one of my favorite festivals that I’ve had the privilege of attending, and I cannot wait to see a some of the films that they have programmed.
As usual, we here at the site will be covering a number of the films throughout the festival, but I wanted to make sure that any local Criterion Collection fans were alerted to some of the treats that we have in store. While there are many films at the festival that will align with...
This is one of my favorite festivals that I’ve had the privilege of attending, and I cannot wait to see a some of the films that they have programmed.
As usual, we here at the site will be covering a number of the films throughout the festival, but I wanted to make sure that any local Criterion Collection fans were alerted to some of the treats that we have in store. While there are many films at the festival that will align with...
- 2/11/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
We fell hard for Terence Davies‘ Sunset Song this past Tiff, proclaiming the Lewis Grassic Gibson adaptation a triumph worthy of Dreyer, one containing “many compositions and gestures beyond just the easy-to-praise 70mm vistas [that] feel destined to replay forever and ever in the mind.” There’s a general consensus that it should be seen on a big screen, and so the pending theatrical release — further highlighted by this, a U.S. trailer — is one of 2016’s most-anticipated happenings.
While I’ll avoid this preview for hope of entering Davies’ film as blind as possible, feel free to partake for yourself. In the meantime, however, consider our review, which goes on to say, “The camera movements take on a sensitive quality (retracting during a rape scene), but also the same bittersweet nature that’s found when swooping through the spaces of Davies’ childhood spaces in the “Tammy” montage from The Long Day Closes.
While I’ll avoid this preview for hope of entering Davies’ film as blind as possible, feel free to partake for yourself. In the meantime, however, consider our review, which goes on to say, “The camera movements take on a sensitive quality (retracting during a rape scene), but also the same bittersweet nature that’s found when swooping through the spaces of Davies’ childhood spaces in the “Tammy” montage from The Long Day Closes.
- 2/3/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Each weekend we highlight the best repertory programming that New York City has to offer, and it’s about to get even better. Opening on February 19th at 7 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side is Metrograph, the city’s newest indie movie theater. Sporting two screens, they’ve announced their first slate, which includes retrospectives for Fassbinder, Wiseman, Eustache, and more, special programs such as an ode to the moviegoing experience, and new independent features that we’ve admired on the festival circuit (including Afternoon, Office 3D, and Measure of a Man).
Artistic and Programming Director Jacob Perlin says in a press release, “Jean Eustache in a Rocky t-shirt. This is the image we had in mind while making this first calendar. Great cinema is there, wherever you can find it. The dismissed film now recognized as a classic, the forgotten box-office hit newly resurrected, the high and the low,...
Artistic and Programming Director Jacob Perlin says in a press release, “Jean Eustache in a Rocky t-shirt. This is the image we had in mind while making this first calendar. Great cinema is there, wherever you can find it. The dismissed film now recognized as a classic, the forgotten box-office hit newly resurrected, the high and the low,...
- 1/20/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Barnes & Noble sale may have ended a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still buy some Criterion Collection releases for 50% off. Best Buy is currently having a 50% off sale on a number of Criterion releases, and Amazon has begun to match their prices.
Thanks to everyone for supporting our site by buying through our affiliate links.
A note on Amazon deals, for those curious: sometimes third party sellers will suddenly appear as the main purchasing option on a product page, even though Amazon will sell it directly from themselves for the sale price that we have listed. If the sale price doesn’t show up, click on the “new” options, and look for Amazon’s listing.
I’ll keep this list updated throughout the week, as new deals are found, and others expire. If you find something that’s wrong, a broken link or price difference,...
Thanks to everyone for supporting our site by buying through our affiliate links.
A note on Amazon deals, for those curious: sometimes third party sellers will suddenly appear as the main purchasing option on a product page, even though Amazon will sell it directly from themselves for the sale price that we have listed. If the sale price doesn’t show up, click on the “new” options, and look for Amazon’s listing.
I’ll keep this list updated throughout the week, as new deals are found, and others expire. If you find something that’s wrong, a broken link or price difference,...
- 12/17/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
- 12/4/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
A tension is formed by a cut, quickly transporting our heroine from an expansive wheat field to a confined classroom. We’re not just talking the difference of 70mm for the former and the Arri Alexa for the latter, but that of, to quote Kate Bush, the “sensual world” versus the punishment of destiny.
Based on a mainstay of Scottish classrooms, Sunset Song is a triptych of sorts chronicling farm girl Chris’ (Agyness Deyn) womanhood; the first deals with her abusive father (Peter Mullan) and the pain he inflicts on her and the others in the family; the second follows her falling in love and marrying Ewan (Kevin Guthrie); while the third sees Ewan enlisting to fight in World War I and coming back a violent man that resembles her father.
Even if the film is somewhat less impressionistic than director Terence Davies’ previous work, many compositions and gestures beyond...
Based on a mainstay of Scottish classrooms, Sunset Song is a triptych of sorts chronicling farm girl Chris’ (Agyness Deyn) womanhood; the first deals with her abusive father (Peter Mullan) and the pain he inflicts on her and the others in the family; the second follows her falling in love and marrying Ewan (Kevin Guthrie); while the third sees Ewan enlisting to fight in World War I and coming back a violent man that resembles her father.
Even if the film is somewhat less impressionistic than director Terence Davies’ previous work, many compositions and gestures beyond...
- 9/21/2015
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Some movies demand a certain setting, and while the darkness of a theater has the always-welcome atmosphere of silent unity, Terence Davies' "Sunset Song" would seem to suggest that a seat near a crackling fireplace, complete with a warm blanket and a hot cup of tea, would be the perfect place to see it. Many consider Davies as Britain's greatest living director, and those familiar with his absorbing works —"The Long Day Closes," "The House of Mirth," "The Deep Blue Sea," et al— look forward to his graceful sensibilities. They will be thoroughly nourished with his latest picture. His latest adaptation, of a 1932 work often regarded as the most important Scottish novel of the 20th century, astutely evokes a sense of patriotic pride and bottomless respect for nature and its organic cycles, and introduces the world to the considerable acting talents of Agyness Deyn (previously best known as a model). Set in the picturesque.
- 9/14/2015
- by Nikola Grozdanovic
- The Playlist
Sunset Song
Director: Terence Davies // Writers: Terence Davies, Lewis Crassic Gribbon
While his famous early works were inspired around his incredibly bleak childhood, with a famed trilogy of shorts followed by Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992), the infrequently working auteur Terence Davies has seemed keen on adapting pieces of classic literature, including John Kennedy Toole’s The Neon Bible (1995), Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (2000), and most recently the Terence Ratigan play The Deep Blue Sea (2011), which starred Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. Another four years have passed and we’re at last hoping to see Davies’ latest, Sunset Song, based on a the 1932 classic Scottish title from Lewis Crassic Gribbon, which is centered on the strong female protagonist Chris Guthrie, growing up amongst a dysfunctional family in the north east of Scotland in 1900. Actress Agyness Deyn will have the chance to prove herself and...
Director: Terence Davies // Writers: Terence Davies, Lewis Crassic Gribbon
While his famous early works were inspired around his incredibly bleak childhood, with a famed trilogy of shorts followed by Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992), the infrequently working auteur Terence Davies has seemed keen on adapting pieces of classic literature, including John Kennedy Toole’s The Neon Bible (1995), Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (2000), and most recently the Terence Ratigan play The Deep Blue Sea (2011), which starred Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. Another four years have passed and we’re at last hoping to see Davies’ latest, Sunset Song, based on a the 1932 classic Scottish title from Lewis Crassic Gribbon, which is centered on the strong female protagonist Chris Guthrie, growing up amongst a dysfunctional family in the north east of Scotland in 1900. Actress Agyness Deyn will have the chance to prove herself and...
- 1/8/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Best British movies of all time? (Image: a young Michael Caine in 'Get Carter') Ten years ago, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as a dangerous-looking London gangster (see photo above), was selected as the United Kingdom's very best movie of all time according to 25 British film critics polled by Total Film magazine. To say that Mike Hodges' 1971 thriller was a surprising choice would be an understatement. I mean, not a David Lean epic or an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller? What a difference ten years make. On Total Film's 2014 list, published last May, Get Carter was no. 44 among the magazine's Top 50 best British movies of all time. How could that be? Well, first of all, people would be very naive if they took such lists seriously, whether we're talking Total Film, the British Film Institute, or, to keep things British, Sight & Sound magazine. Second, whereas Total Film's 2004 list was the result of a 25-critic consensus,...
- 10/12/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ben Gibson, the departing Director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as Director, Degree Programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
“Ben is eminently qualified for this pivotal new role at Aftrs, and I’m thrilled that he could be persuaded to bring his considerable skills, experience and academic rigor to Australia. His 14 years as Director of the very successful London Film School are notable for his work in building up the school’s reputation in the UK and abroad and expanding and accrediting its prestigious postgraduate degrees. Ben has also been a very successful and original independent producer and production executive, and has previously worked in distribution and exhibition, so he comes with a deep knowledge of the international screen industry at all levels,” said Sandra Levy, CEO of the Aftrs.
Prior to joining the London Film School in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from 1988 to 1998. His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies' " The Long Day Closes," Derek Jarman's "Wittgenstein," John Maybury's "Love is the Devil," Carine Adler's "Under the Skin"and Jasmin Dizdar's "Beautiful People," as well as 20 other low budget features and many shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. As a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures he acquired and promoted films by Pedro Almodovar, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman and Jean-Luc Godard as well as opening the West End’s Metro Cinema in 1986. He has also been a theater director, a repertory film programmer and a film critic and journalist. He leaves Lfs at the end of July.
Ben Gibson said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Sandra Levy’s vision of Aftrs as a complete screen school -- and to get the chance to work in the Australian film industry, one I’ve hugely admired and followed -- so far from a great distance. Aftrs offers a special combination of good things: self-confidence, an extraordinary heritage, great creative ambition, exceptional resources, a wide educational scope and a central mission in a dynamic and productive screen industry. It’s rightly considered to be one of the great film schools of the world. I can’t wait to join the team and get started there.”
Gibson’s final year at Lfs has been attended by great creative success. The school won 35 festival prizes and mentions in 2013-14, including a BAFTA nomination. Ms Levy pointed out that this year’s Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival was won by Leidi, the Lfs graduation film of Simón Mesa Soto. Also at Cannes, amongst seven graduates featured in the 2014 selection, "The Salt of the Earth," co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders, was awarded the Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.
Director Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors at the London Film School, in announcing Ben’s departure earlier this year, said: “Ben Gibson has led Lfs from strength to strength over his fourteen years of outstanding service, and we will be sad to see him go.”
Aftrs is Australia’s national screen arts and broadcasting school and has been named as one of the Top 20 film schools in the world by industry journal, The Hollywood Reporter. As an elite specialist institution, Aftrs provides excellence in education through its practice based model, and aspires to deliver a dynamic educational offering that prepares the most talented and creative students – novice, experienced, fully fledged professional specialists – to be platform agnostic, creative and resilient in an industry subject to constant changes in knowledge and technology. The new BA Screen is a 3-year program offering a strong base in the understanding of story and screen history alongside a comprehensive introduction to the skills of screen production.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
“Ben is eminently qualified for this pivotal new role at Aftrs, and I’m thrilled that he could be persuaded to bring his considerable skills, experience and academic rigor to Australia. His 14 years as Director of the very successful London Film School are notable for his work in building up the school’s reputation in the UK and abroad and expanding and accrediting its prestigious postgraduate degrees. Ben has also been a very successful and original independent producer and production executive, and has previously worked in distribution and exhibition, so he comes with a deep knowledge of the international screen industry at all levels,” said Sandra Levy, CEO of the Aftrs.
Prior to joining the London Film School in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from 1988 to 1998. His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies' " The Long Day Closes," Derek Jarman's "Wittgenstein," John Maybury's "Love is the Devil," Carine Adler's "Under the Skin"and Jasmin Dizdar's "Beautiful People," as well as 20 other low budget features and many shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. As a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures he acquired and promoted films by Pedro Almodovar, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman and Jean-Luc Godard as well as opening the West End’s Metro Cinema in 1986. He has also been a theater director, a repertory film programmer and a film critic and journalist. He leaves Lfs at the end of July.
Ben Gibson said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Sandra Levy’s vision of Aftrs as a complete screen school -- and to get the chance to work in the Australian film industry, one I’ve hugely admired and followed -- so far from a great distance. Aftrs offers a special combination of good things: self-confidence, an extraordinary heritage, great creative ambition, exceptional resources, a wide educational scope and a central mission in a dynamic and productive screen industry. It’s rightly considered to be one of the great film schools of the world. I can’t wait to join the team and get started there.”
Gibson’s final year at Lfs has been attended by great creative success. The school won 35 festival prizes and mentions in 2013-14, including a BAFTA nomination. Ms Levy pointed out that this year’s Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival was won by Leidi, the Lfs graduation film of Simón Mesa Soto. Also at Cannes, amongst seven graduates featured in the 2014 selection, "The Salt of the Earth," co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders, was awarded the Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.
Director Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors at the London Film School, in announcing Ben’s departure earlier this year, said: “Ben Gibson has led Lfs from strength to strength over his fourteen years of outstanding service, and we will be sad to see him go.”
Aftrs is Australia’s national screen arts and broadcasting school and has been named as one of the Top 20 film schools in the world by industry journal, The Hollywood Reporter. As an elite specialist institution, Aftrs provides excellence in education through its practice based model, and aspires to deliver a dynamic educational offering that prepares the most talented and creative students – novice, experienced, fully fledged professional specialists – to be platform agnostic, creative and resilient in an industry subject to constant changes in knowledge and technology. The new BA Screen is a 3-year program offering a strong base in the understanding of story and screen history alongside a comprehensive introduction to the skills of screen production.
- 7/15/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Outgoing director of the London Film School to join Australian Film School.
Ben Gibson, the departing director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as director, degree programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
Prior to joining the Lfs in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as head of production at the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1988 to 1998.
His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as...
Ben Gibson, the departing director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as director, degree programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
Prior to joining the Lfs in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as head of production at the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1988 to 1998.
His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as...
- 7/3/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Few and far between are the directors able to look upon the era of their childhoods with any kind of objectivity, easy as it must be too lapse into uncritical nostalgia, self-aware namedropping, or outright hostility to the process of aging. Interestingly enough, the most successful entries in this subgenre are those that make no bones about their respective directors's rose-colored perspective, and charge head first into the past without so much as a glance forward; The Long Day Closes certainly belong in this category. Similar to Fellini's Amarcord, Day is as nostalgic as anything that Reiner, Spielberg, or Allen ever made, but largely divorces itself from narratives about former glories in favor of sensory details; what writer/director Terrence Davies saw and heard as a young man, rather than anything in particular that he did. It's an absolutely hypnotic experience, and one that evokes youth in terms that a youth will respond to.
- 2/8/2014
- by Anders Nelson
- JustPressPlay.net
What do you remember of your childhood? Other than major events, the majority of your memories are probably vaguely defined and few films have more deftly captured that hazy recollection of youth than Terence Davies’ riveting “The Long Day Closes.” More of an art piece than a traditional narrative, the film, recently added to The Criterion Collection, may first seem slow but becomes transfixing in the deliberate way that its creator doesn’t seek to replicate history but his memory of it.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
With dozens of songs, many of them in their entirety (we hear three before a line of dialogue), and some still shots that have the beauty of an artist’s eye, “The Long Day Closes” is a beautifully conceived and executed. A mother singing quietly to herself as she makes tea, the reflection of rain on a boy’s ceiling, the escape of the cinema — “The Long Day Closes...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
With dozens of songs, many of them in their entirety (we hear three before a line of dialogue), and some still shots that have the beauty of an artist’s eye, “The Long Day Closes” is a beautifully conceived and executed. A mother singing quietly to herself as she makes tea, the reflection of rain on a boy’s ceiling, the escape of the cinema — “The Long Day Closes...
- 1/30/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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