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Of Time and the City (2008)

Director: Terence Davies

Time Out rating

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22 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Terence Davies returned to Liverpool to make this docu-essay, a poetic, sometimes caustic, always enthralling cocktail of Mahler and Peggy Lee, TS Eliot and James Joyce, archive film and witty narration, all about the city where he grew up in the 1940s and ’50s. Davies left Merseyside in the early ’70s, moving south to pursue acting (briefly) and filmmaking (more enduringly, although with an unhappy hiatus of seven years from 2000) with such features as ‘Distant Voices, Still Lives’ and ‘The Long Day Closes’.

The shadows of these autobiographical explorations of Davies’s respectable, working-class childhood of fearing God and discovering homosexuality are cast long over this wonderful, moving and amusing work. It mixes the most personal of recollections with Davies’s more universal commentary on change in the city, the country and his life – all delivered by the director in easy reach of his record collection, bookshelf and a wealth of stately footage from the vaults.

Anyone expecting clips from ‘Brookside’, adoration of The Beatles or reminiscences about time on Anfield’s terraces should look elsewhere. Davies may devote a little time to football but only when he’s wistfully remembering the manners of past players and Saturday afternoons spent listening to the match results on the Bakelite. And he positively loathes The Beatles, preferring to drown out a scene of The Cavern Club in full flow with the sound of Mahler while declaring (in that catty, actorly, gently wicked voice that makes listening to this film such a joy) that John, Paul, George and Ringo sound like ‘a firm of provincial solicitors’.

But the most excoriating sequences are reserved for the opposing pillars of the royal family and the Catholic Church: the first he damns as a ‘fossil monarchy’ and ‘the Betty Windsor show’; the second he describes as the repressive starting-blocks on his difficult journey to becoming a ‘born-again atheist’.

Towards the close, Davies asks, ‘Where are you, the Liverpool I have loved?’ We see ample (a little too ample) imagery of Victorian streets giving way to demolition and housing estates. Is this nostalgia? Maybe – but that matters little: Davies’s film is a memoir, not an objective portrait of a city. And, by being so personal in a way that’s so honest and so incisive, Davies indirectly offers national commentary that’s relevant far, far beyond his old Merseyside doorstep

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-05-19 14:54:46

Time Out London Issue 1993, 30 October – 4 November, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Imelda Davis said...

Posted on Oct 08 2008 01:06 Thought the filming a bit repetitious, how may times
were the Cunard Buildings shown?

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Janet said...

Posted on Sep 28 2008 15:04 I saw the film at the Melbourne International Film Festival last month and I was besotted. It could have been so self-indulgent but it was beautiful and very funny. One in the eye for those who think that Terence Davies lacks a sense of humour. His crack at the royal family is perfect. But it also reminded me so much of the Ashton-under-Lyne I left in 1969 when I was eleven. The one that no longer exists except in my memory. That's in black and white also. Thanks Mr Davies.

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mark Davies said...

Posted on Sep 22 2008 21:49 Fantastic preview so far but cant wait to see it in full.
Any one no where i can see it or is there a date for release

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Anscombe said...

Posted on Apr 28 2008 18:19 It's truly wonderful news that Terence Davies's new film has been selected for a special screening at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Many congratulations to Terence Davies, and to his producers. The film looks terrific. I can't wait to see it!

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Sol Papadopoulos said...

Posted on Apr 27 2008 00:33 Of Time and the City has been selected out of competition by the Cannes Film Festival. We're really proud of the film and hope it finds its deserving audience.

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Bellyfeel said...

Posted on Apr 24 2008 12:59 http://www.oftimeandthecity.com
Offical website for the new feature film by Terence Davies. A documentary about his life and a city, that city being Liverpool.

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Tyler Morgan said...

Posted on Apr 24 2008 09:55 It's Good for our City when talented directors make work
of the city. It's always a proud feeling to Tell everyone
else about the history of Your City.

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