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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 30 October 2008

Pick of the Indies

OF TIME AND CITY
Directed by Terence Davies
Certificate U

Director Terence Davies has not made a film for nearly 10 years – but this tribute to his home city Liverpool is worth waiting for.
It is a requiem to a Britain that has disappeared.
Davies has managed to make a personal film, yet one that will resonate with the viewer. He takes a narrow subject and makes it relevant to all. The archive footage he has rustled up shows the decline of industrial Britain. Although mourned, the slums are writ large in monochrome – decay and rejuvenation, followed by more decay. Liverpool’s cobbled streets and terraced houses, bustling port and long-vanished picture palaces sit comfortably next to today’s Albert Docks with their flash nightclubs and made-over municipal buildings.
Davies was one of the generation who faced a new order in post-war Britain. A child in the 40s, coming of age in the 50s, it charts his growth alongside the city. His Catholic upbringing to the trouble he had as his sexuality came to the fore (he is gay), are all examined.
He recalls the 1947 Royal wedding, conscription, the coming of rock ’n’ roll. What works is not just the fact the story is so well told, it is also beautiful to look at. Davies admits to being strongly influenced by Camden Town film-maker Humphrey Jennings, whose films in the 1930s and 1940s were funded by the government’s Post Office Film Unit.
Davies said the motivation was to bring the past alive: “I wanted to make a blend of history and poetry to capture what it was like to be a Liverpudlian. The film’s not just about Liverpool, it’s about age and mortality.” For such a tough target, he hits the bullseye with great skill.

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