Genres

Visitors Review

Jack Blackburn 2012-05-24 01:27:56

Beautiful slice of cinema

Terence Davies's documentary "Of Time and the City" should beconsidered as more of a cinematic poem. This can be a very irritatingthing, and Davies does not make it all the way through the film withoutfalling into self-indulgence. However, he does construct a quitebeautiful piece of cinema.This is flawless in areas. Davies's selection of music and images isimpeccable, and his voice is a delight to listen to. As a result, anumber of sequences are joyous to experience. The slice of the KoreanWar combined with "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" by The Hollies ismy particular favourite. Davies is also, at times, devilishly funny.His description of the coronation of Elizabeth II as the beginning ofthe "Betty Windsor Show" raised a good laugh from the audience in myscreening, and there are many other lines like it.Davies is at times profound. His own personal writing about hisawakening sexuality and the Roman Catholic Church is very interestingand honest. However, as he repeats the formula of poetic monologueleading on to music sequence time after time, he becomes lessinteresting and more self-indulgent.Although this is a short film (clocking in at about an hour and aquarter), boredom could prove to be a problem. Nevertheless, this is animpressive and beautiful film. It isn't perfect, nor is it amasterpiece, but it is head and shoulders above many other films and anenjoyable experience.

dbborroughs 2012-05-23 20:28:47

A wonderful tone poem

Terrence Davies look at Liverpool and himself takes the form of a tonepoem on film. Its a wonderful mix of sound and image and commentarythat all comes together to make something special.I don't know what to say about this film other than see it. I say thatbecause this is a very hard film to talk about except unless you'veseen it. The reason for this is that there really isn't a narrative assuch more the flow of time with the result that I can't talk aboutsequences and such because its hard to say how they all fit together.I will say that this film wonderfully creates a feeling of being inLiverpool over the course of time thanks to a skillful blend of new andold footage. Rarely does a film make one feel that one has actuallybeen to the place its about.If I have any reservations about the film its that Davies commentarysometimes takes a snide turn. Its not that I have a problem with how hesays views the Royal Family, rather its that in changing his tone hechanges the cadences of his words and their delivery and the magicspell he so carefully weaves breaks for an instant.A wonderful film that's best seen in a dark room on a big screen withno distractions.

BJJManchester 2012-05-18 16:33:15

Mesmerising Visual Poem by a Master Filmmaker

Made to coincide with Liverpool's year of culture,OF TIME AND THE CITYis an impeccably made,edited and narrated personal dissertation byTerence Davies on his native city.It isn't really a documentary,despite the excess of grainy butfascinating historical film footage of Liverpool of bygone days,whichtakes up over 90% of the running time.In such circumstances,the choiceof music and words to accompany this vintage imagery is profusely vitalto keep interest alive,but Davies is more than equal to the task.Hisgloriously rich,tremulous voice,quoting his own and other poeticexpressions, is perfectly supported by immaculately chosen classicalmusic,with a sparse few pop songs somewhat reluctantly included.Davies'lament for simpler,better days compared to contemporary times couldhave easily fallen into the trap of sentiment,but is actually oftenvery moving because of the stunning juxtaposition of the spokenword,imagery and music.But all memories involved are not necessarily happy ones;his musings onhis difficulties with his religion (catholicism),his sexuality,the 1953coronation,and the gradual decline of working-class communities fromthe 1960's onwards shows a bitterness,pessimism and self-loathing,butwhich at least is expressed with a very deep intelligence and aninsightful,trenchant wit.His distaste for the Merseybeat era,withfootage (and mute footage at that) from The Beatles only sketchilyincorporated (there is but a brief musical clip of The Swinging BlueJeans included) seems as profound as his adoration for most classicalcomposers,exuberantly celebrated on the soundtrack.However,his choice of one non-classical track,'He Ain't Heavy,He's MyBrother' (by The Hollies),in relation to footage of the Korean war (andhis elder brother's service there) is a trifle misjudged,as isoccasionally the superfluous examples of poetry quoted from variousauthors.It is often the case that Davies' own ruminations are far moreedifying,and the immaculately filmed footage from the Liverpool oftoday is perhaps just a bit too fleeting,but still manage to show hisconsiderable skill as a director.Nevertheless,OF TIME AND THE CITY is a hugely impressive artistic essayby a scandalously neglected filmmaker (the UK usually handles greattalents in this flippant manner),and is worthy of comparison to otherpoetic British documentarists of the past like Humphrey Jennings andJohn Grierson.RATING:8 out of 10.

2012-05-17 22:54:51

From a Biased Fan

I am biased because I love the films of Terence Davies, even as I realize they are not for everyone. That is the point, really: his work is a direct reflection of his sensibility, and you either see that and identify with it or you don't. The reviewers who complain that this is not an objective, by-the-book documentary are missing the point entirely. As Davies explains in one of the interviews, this is a personal work that developed in its own time and fashion. It does not rely on chronology or any standard organizing principle. For that reason Davies and the rest of the filmmaking team refer to the film as more of a poem, and so it is.

Richard Burin 2012-05-17 08:36:14

Sometimes glorious, at times just pretentious

Of Time and the City (Terence Davies, 2008) - The fifth feature fromBritain's greatest living director, Terence Davies, was shot for just£250,000 as part of Liverpool's European Capital of Culturecelebrations. His first movie since 2000, it followed years of failed,thwarted projects. Anyone familiar with Davies' work will recognise hispet concerns here, as he uses the city as a canvas on which to paintmemories of childhood and lost innocence. He no longer recognises thecity; barely recognises himself. Davies delivers an intensely personalvoice-over that's tragic, verbose (he has a nice turn of phrase) andripe for parody, offering one part incomprehensible wordiness to everydose of pithy poetry.Some have hailed this as the director's greatest achievement, but it isonly when Davies stops yapping and dedicates himself to thoseunparalleled fusions of music and nostalgic visuals - passages oflyricism, irony and sorrow - that the film really approaches thebrilliance of his earlier work. The sequence set to Peggy Lee's TheFolks Who Live on the Hill, charting the move from terraced housing tothe false dawn of high-rise blocks, is one of the best things he hasever done. Oddly, though, the continuation of that thread, which seemsto stress the terrible human cost of such schemes as young childrenreturn to the hellish towers, is interrupted by Davies going on aboutmunicipal architecture being a bit of an eyesore, comprehensivelyundercutting the effect. On second viewing, Of Time and the City looksthe same as first time around - only more so. It's erratic, lurchingfrom truth to redundant repetition, though when it works, it'sglorious.

2012-05-17 06:01:26

Pretentious and boring

This movie is billed as a personal history of the city of Liverpool. It has some great archival footage of slums and the lives of the poor -- and an incredibly pretentious narrator who reads an incredibly pretentious script. And the history presented is annoyingly incomplete. We seem to be hearing the story of a sensitive gay kid afraid the come out -- but we never do quite get a story. Instead, we see the old slums demolished to be replaced by new, high-rise slums. We see many shots of graffiti, a weird aside about the Korean War, memories of a day at the beach and snatches of poetry while the soundtrack plays various bits of mostly classical music.How can you have a movie about Liverpool without discussing the effect on the city of the Beatles and the other great groups of the Mersey Sound? We get a very, very brief shot of the Fab Four while the narrator drones on about how he prefers listening to "my beloved Bruckner!" Also no discussion of the two great football clubs of the city -- Liverpool and Everton -- and the religious divide between their fans. Instead, crappy musings about the Catholic Church and the narrator's loss of faith.So there you have it -- a movie that ignores the city's two great contributions to British civilization. Yes it's a personal history but I saw no reason to interest myself in that person.

chaos-rampant 2012-05-09 21:46:22

Simple nostalgia, tricly elegy

We kind of expect our artists to be haunted by demons, it is in tacitunderstanding that in their art we'll find the template to overcomeours. That, in visiting the dark place which is shared among all of us,we can defer to them for guidance, for the light that dissolves theshadows.Here we have the personal memoirs of one such artist. We see thedemons, the hurt and anger generated by repressed homosexuality or asuffocating religion without answers. But they're up on the screenwhole as dragged from the bitterest place, to be vexed than overcome.The manner is petulant, childish. Of course I agree with Davies forexample about the obsolete, useless monarchy sucking the blood of thepeople, but how am I for the better by listening to his obvious,venomous attack upon it? I can get that in every forum online pendingthe royal wedding, from casual talk on the street.And what am I to make of the boy's dismay at the silence of god? Whichthe boy now not-quite grown up, perceives as indictment and completelyignores what comfort he was offered at the time by prayer. Surely, lifeis more complex than this.When by the end of this we get the realization of what matters, a lifelived in the present without hope or love, it rings hollow because ithasn't been embodied in the work itself, which is riddled with an oldman's angst.And this is not all of it. The elegy to the city and the time thatshuffled it is too tricly, oh-so-sombre, so filled with yearnings. Whatemotion is here is so obvious, that Malick appears subtle by comparisonto it. So easily, quickly digestible that in trying to sate so much, togorge in it, it doesn't sate at all.What little of this works is the symphony of the city. The kind of filmthey were making in 1920's Berlin or Moscow to eulogize the boomingarchitecture. With the twist that here, it is the uniquely Britishgenius and propensity for creating a dismal urban landscape thatappeals. The drab, grey routine. But I'd rather get this from TheSinging Detective, which weaves it into a multifaceted story than asimple nostalgia. Or get the same experience Davies wants for his filmsfrom Zerkalo.I suspect this will fare better for the people who share his vexationswith religion and society, and who can relax in them. Me, I can't relaxin anything without consideration for what the images and voices in itmean. With movies that transport, I'm always interested in the placethey transport to. This is not one of those places.

2012-05-09 12:06:48

Easily one of the worst films I have ever seen

Surely, this is the "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of documentaries. It is poorly made, unsympathetic and boring. The narrator is entirely self-focused and his voice is unsuited to narrative, raspy and irritating. The footage is monotonous, depressing, and actually manages to say very little about the city. The film is used as a personal vehicle for a few views that are entirely irrelevant to the subject. People viewing this lame pastiche who actually came from the city and from that time felt personally insulted. I'm sure the supporting organizations, who thought they were aiding in a true representation of their city, would be justified in legal action for misrepresentation. This was truly horrid and grating, no redeeming qualiteis except that it opens the way for someone to do a really good film on what is actually the always interesting and always dynamic city of Liverpool.

greenwood-3 2012-05-07 02:50:53

eeh-hm

Sorry, couldn't appreciate it. I'm originally from St. Petersburg,Russia, but my husband grew up in Manchester (in the 50s and 60s), andI do like both the old and new bits of his home city. It's mainly theauthor's personality that happened to irritate me the most - I foundhim too pretentious (starting from that theatre curtain episode in thebeginning) and felt like he had made this film basically for himself.It was too lengthy, there were many repetitive shots and arie all overthe place (drowning the little girls' song which I actually wanted tohear). Rationally, I'm taking Davies's point but emotionally, Icouldn't wait till the film was over. Talking about life experiencesimilar to Davies's, I much prefer the late Dutch writer Gerard Reve.

ikanboy 2012-05-06 08:27:52

A trenchant, bitter, self serving, and self absorbed memoir.

This is, behind all the directorial flourishes, a view of working classBritain from above and beyond, and escaped. Davies' plummy voice tellsus he has long departed from viewing his childhood home with any degreeof warmth and instead drones on in sepulchurion disdain about theChurch, his homosexual guilt, his artistic hauteur, as he hammers home,again and again from his dismal vantage point, an opinion complete init's self absorption, self hate, projection, and most sadlyheartlessness. C'mon Terry you must have had some mates, some fun, orat least some mentors who left you with some sense of the pulse of theplace you grew up in!Next up Blackpool and all it's masses awaiting intellectual dissectingby a dried up soul.

2012-05-05 23:30:47

brings back memories

This review is from: Of Time and The City (DVD) I bought this since I was born in Liverpool and lived there for several years. My parents lived there during the war. I enjoyed seeing most of the video - it brought back a lot of memories, some good, some not so good. What disappointed me was the several instances of profanity, which in my opinion, did not add anything. Unfortunately, I did not show this to my mom (in her 80s) since that language does not sit well with her. Other than that, it was interesting, and anyone who spent time in Liverpool would appreciate the many years of history on one DVD.

sleemon 2012-05-05 09:52:53

Disappointing--Images and music tell their story very, very slowly

I'm usually a patient viewer who has no problem with films in whichnothing much happen. In this case, however, I was expecting a moretraditional memoir in which the director tells a personal story. What Igot was a series of images and music (classical and vintage popularsongs) interspersed with a sparse narration of quotes, anecdotes, andphilosophical ramblings.It's supposed to be a lyrical visual poem evoking the director'srepressed homosexual youth in an industrial hell. To me, however, itwas just a bunch of random images screaming "Look here. This is Art!ART!" I guess that one man's masterpiece is another man's boring,self-indulgent, pretentious twaddle.

2012-05-05 14:20:52

Beautiful, nostalgia, and timeless

Although I've never been to Liverpool, England and have no personal memory of most of the specifics, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Beautiful images with wonderful music and stunning poems... What a piece of art! It makes me feel somehow as fellow human beings we share the same images, memories and feelings across space, in the long flowing river of time...

Terrell Howell 2012-05-04 18:23:42

Very dull

Of Time and the City is a nostalgic look at the history of Liverpool,England. Terence Davies is a well known British director and he madethis film as an examination of his childhood and what it was likegrowing up in Liverpool. He dabbles in Christianity, homo-eroticism,and lots of classical music. He examines just how all of this affectedhim and what it meant to him in the context of Liverpool. The film istold through archival footage and Terence Davies' narration which is amix of bitter yet telling. This is obviously a very personal film forDavies, yet I myself can't relate in the slightest. Maybe you have tobe 60 years old and from Liverpool to really understand this film andunderstand Davies' intentions. I'm neither of these things so this filmdid nothing for me.In a nutshell I just don't understand the purpose of this film. It isTerence Davies reliving his childhood and the things which have madehim into what he is today. He does so eloquently and poetically, yet itdoesn't make any more relevant to me or any more interesting to watch.The film is very dull and can easily lull you to sleep. There is littleto this film if you can't relate to anything going on. I'm not sayingthat in order for a film to be good you have to be able to relate to iton some level, but if you can't then the film should at least be wellmade and compelling. Of Time and the City is not very interesting andits only about as well made as a small film like this can be.Creating an entire film out of narration, piano music, and archivalfootage just doesn't make for a terribly interesting film. Of Time andthe City is not visually striking and everything being discusseddoesn't strike any notes with me. The film is very stagnant as itswitches between footage with narration over it to footage with musicover it. The visuals seem fairly relevant while Davies narrates, butthen they become random and meaningless when the music is played overthem. At this point it really just feels like filler, something a 74minute film doesn't need.Maybe I just completely missed the point of Of Time and the City, ormaybe you have to have a very specific background and interest to enjoythis film. I feel like if you are out of the "target audience" likemyself then your chances of enjoying this film are dashed. This filmdid nothing emotionally for me and I was nothing but bored for an hourand fourteen minutes.

2012-05-02 18:54:51

A marvellous documentary

A beautifully made film,fanatstic use of black and white footage and a poetic commentary. Pure film making by a devotee of film.

bob the moo 2012-05-01 22:16:54

Interesting at best but pretentious at worst – one of those love it or hate it things

Although I will proceed to contradict myself, this is one of thosefilms that you will either hate or love. Over archive footage ofLiverpool, Terrance Davies narrates his personal recollections andreflections of the city along with its history and changes from hisbirth onwards. It is a personal film for him no doubt because it is notso much of a "documentary" as it is a piece of poetry over images – itwould not be out of place as an art installation somewhere (if it werestructured and delivered differently). It is hard to review thisbecause for some people the voice, the words and the images willcombine to create a wonderfully personal experience that they are drawninto, more of an experience than just a film. However to other viewers(who will be unfairly told they "don't get it" or "aren't smart enough"and should "go back to Transformers 2") this will come over aspointless, annoying and right up itself.And here is my contradiction, because I fell somewhere in the middle ofthis, wanting to love it but ultimately finding myself totally on theoutside looking in. Throughout the whole film I was finding itsporadically interesting, whether in the footage or the narration therewas stuff that stopped me getting bored. However I also had thisniggling feeling that the film was being deliberately obtuse in what itwas doing and that, in being so personal, Davies had forgotten thatthis was a film being sold to an audience, not just something he ismaking for free. By this I mean that there isn't anything that offersthe viewer an olive branch to get into it – if you don't love it earlythen it will likely just leave you behind. At times the film does smackheavily of being pretentious for the sake of it and, while the negativevoices and overly negative here, I can see the point of those thatattack it as such.Perhaps that is fine though, not every film will appeal to everyone andthis is an art film that will always draw a small audience no matterwhere it is shown. I know many people loved it and believe me when Isay that I did want to but somehow it just didn't work for me. I wasleft feeling remote from the subject of any scene and, although someaspects still interested me, at worst it did come over as a littlepretentious. Worth a look for something different but it is certainlynot for everyone.

2012-04-27 17:28:35

Great imagery, lousy narration

The idea for this movie, comparing imagery from different eras of an industrial city, was engaging, as were the movie shots all the way through. The narrator however was a self-obsessed blowhard with a booming, breathless voice, completely ruining the effect. I was able to watch most of it with my TV muted, but of course not really enjoy it. The music, when I dared listen, was good.

lastliberal 2012-04-27 08:51:09

...the years wasted in useless prayer.

There was a time when the world was black and while. I lived in thattime, and so did Terence Davies. His time in the 50s and 60s was spentin Liverpool, and in this film, this poem with images, and songs, andpoetry, and and words of remembrance, he takes us to that time thatonly those who lived it would fully appreciate.We didn't really know we were poor. We made the best of it and foundhappiness where we could - at the beach, by winning a race at the fair,or in the movies.The crack began in the mid to late 60s, and we started to question whysome had and others didn't, why a church held such power over ourlives, why love could not be shared by all, black and white, straightand gay.I thank Terence Davies for this trip back. it was a beautiful thing.

2012-04-26 17:32:36

A Private Masterpiece

This review is from: Of Time and The City (DVD) First I rented, then I bought. There is nothing like this film anywhere. Just sit back, watch and listen to a world, not at all beautiful, but achingly poignant. I only wish I had seen the film before my brief time there while on a tour of Britain; the visit would have been much more meaningful. Unique, precious film footage set to heavenly music. And the comments only add to the sincerity of the effort.

Redcitykev 2012-04-26 10:04:51

A great disappointment

On BBC TV there is a regular half-hour programme called 'Grumpy OldMen', on which the likes of Arthur Smith, Noddy Holder, and others -within the 45-60+ group - let rip about the state of modern societyand, usually, how it was so much better in their days. After watchingthis diatribe from Mr Davis it would not surprise me to see him turningup on a later series of the programme due to the fact that this film,poetic as it may have been, came across as no better than a glorified76 minute version of it.This is not to say that the film does not have its moments, because itmost certainly does. When he is riling against the British Monachy, orreligion - the Catholic church in particular, the film comes alive evenif you disagree with what he is saying, maybe even finding itoffensive. But the trouble with the film is that these moments are fewand far between, and too much time is taken up with dull, pointlessviews of dull, pointless buildings, often making blindingly obviouspoints that have been many times before (yes, we know the high-risehomes very quickly disintegrated into slums that were no better, andoften worse, then those back-to-back terrace houses they replaced).When it came to the people of Liverpool the shots he included againseemed to be those we have seen 100's of times before on other, better,documentaries about the city. Kiddies playing in the streets,playgrounds full of swings and slides etc, etc... yes, yes, we know itwas all so much better then - apart from the increased infant deaths,illnesses caused by poverty and poor diet etc! Then comes the music!How can Mr Davis dismiss the Beatles and the whole of the Mersey soundin just a few fleeting moments, and pretty damning moments as well.Does he not realise that these pop/rock groups, along with Liverpooland Everton FC's, did more to put the city of Liverpool on the map,rising its profile across the globe and helping it to recover its prideand place in the world following on from the collapse of itstraditional industries than any other thing? The legacy of that periodis still felt today, be it in the eternal popularity of the Beatles andother groups from the 1960's, the modern classical stylings of Sir PaulMcCartney, McCartney's legacy to the city in LIPA, or the recent popand rock sounds of such groups as The Zutons etc, and this is somethingthat Mr Davis should have acknowledged in this film.Before watching this film I had viewed the new Clint Eastwood film'Changeling', which has a running time of some 2 1/2 hours, yet thatfilm seemed to last about half that time, whilst this film runs forjust over 76 minutes and yet seemed much, much longer. Mr Davis is avery talented film maker, as films like 'The Long Day Closes' haveshown, and surely it was not beyond his fierce-some intellect to createa fictional film in which his sentiments could have been expressed in amuch more entertaining way. Maybe now he has got all this off his chesthe will get back to doing what he does best and give us a film worthyof his talents next time round.