Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1563 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-30
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 74 minutes

Synopsis
Acclaimed British filmmaker Terence Davies revisits the city of his youth in the elegiac documentary OF TIME AND THE CITY. A deeply personal evocation of post-World War II Liverpool, the film is a patchwork visual poem woven from archival footage, a mash-up of classical and pop music standards, and Davies' own incantations--delivered in his lugubrious, at times overwrought, elocution. Revealing a caustic wit and a biting contempt for institutions such as the Catholic Church and British royalty, the director underscores his hatred of such symbols by depicting images of the environs of Liverpool's working class, an environment that Davies sneers at as demonstrating 'the British genius for the dismal'. From the decay of government-built council houses to the crumbling edifices of shipyards, Davies chooses to stare down an urban landscape that echoes his own troubled past. Davies speaks candidly of his own childhood experiences, from the spectre of Catholic guilt and the 'dark desires' of homosexuality awakened at professional wrestling matches, to the rapture of seeing Hollywood films and musicals--pain and pleasure the filmmaker has sought to come to terms with his whole adult life. Connecting a deeply personal biographical lens to the universal notion of time, place, and home, OF TIME AND THE CITY depicts the psychic dissonance of arriving 35 years later in a city where the ravages of urban blight and rapid gentrification have rendered it completely and utterly transformed.

Customer Reviews

Simply riveting
My father wanted to see this, partly because he was born and bred in Liverppol and now lives near Chester, but partly because it has had some excellent reviews in the media. I was happy to go along for the ride.

The film is peppered with poetry and quotations, and they are all appropriate for the footage at that moment, whether you know the lines or not. The narration is rich and the voice has real resonance. The music is varied - rock, ballads, classical - and again, whether it is to your taste or not, it is all appropriate for the footage being shown.

There is humour, there is some bitterness about the difference between the rich and the poor, and there is great sadness for what has been lost forever. In fact, the overwhelming impression is a sense of huge loss in the face of decay. I am not usually one for tears in cinemas, but in the tiny cinema of Theatr Clwyd half of the audience was struggling to dig out tissues, and at one point I was one of them. The sense of vibrancy and hope fading into depression and decay was almost too much to bear.

But there really is humour. One of my favourite jokes is far too rude to repeat here, but the dryness in some cases and the outright vigour in others had the audience laughing as well as crying.

If you are offended by a negative attitude to religion or the monarchy this may be something you will need to bear in mind. But there are no digs at politics or any focus on street violence, both obvious targets to create an impact with an audience.

There is nothing artificial about the ending. There is no false sense of hope for a future which is, if one is being realistic, completely uncertain. There are shots of modern life, people of all ages being both false and natural in different activities, but there are no predictions and there is nothing that lifts the overall sense of loss, occasional anger, and regret.

It is the only film that I have ever attended at which the audience sat motionless, with the theatre lights all fully illuminated, until the very end of the credits. There was a real sense that something remarkable had just happened and that it would be uncivil to stand and leave before the text had trailed away.

My father and I went to a nearby pub afterwards for a meal and spent the entire time talking about the film. Laugh or cry, it is an amazing and never to be missed experience. I have it on pre-order.

Brings Liverpool to life.
I love the city of Liverpool, and made the choice to move here last year. When I saw this film, it just reaffirmed how right this decision was.

Liverpool has been long underrated, ridiculed and misunderstood, despite having one of the richest cultural heritages of anywhere in the world (where else do you think MERSEYbeat music came from?!) and some of the most incredible people as its inhabitants, as well as being the world's first real modern trading port with its series of docks and warehouses and sadly being heavily involved in the slave trade.

Liverpool and its people have so many diversities; there are so many people of so many backgrounds here; rich and poor, young and old, and from all over the world.

The film investigates these people, and gives voices to those who are usually silenced; nobody speaks bar Terrence Davies but he eloquently and movingly tells their stories with a mixture of modern and old footage. I found it humbling to watch and made me proud to be a part of such a beautiful and rich (in the sense of love and culture) city. It is not all seriousness, there are some humourouse and rather rude moments!!

Recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in the city of Liverpool and to educate those with a bad impression of what was the European Capital Of Culture last year. Also, big congratulations to both Terrence Davies and Roy Boulter for their hard work in piecing this together; a huge amount of work and research went into the conception and production of this film.

A Great Film About Childhood
Terence Davies has made a wonderful, evocative film about his childhood.
I loved it. It made me laugh and cry and I wondered if it made a difference to me because I come from Liverpool too but I really don't think this is the case.
It's the marvellous writing that makes this poem to childhood so special.