Of Time and the City
- Director: Terence Davies
- Writer: Terence Davies
- Producer: Roy Boulter; Christopher Moll
CGiii Comment
This is simply cinematic poetry.
This is Davies' memoir to his youth and his city, Liverpool - and all the wasted hours he spent praying.
There are touches of bitterness, being a personal travelogue...this will alienate some from enjoying the imagery.
Just sit back and marvel at the visuals, the words and music - it's such a personal perspective.
Davies is not preaching, he's just being a little nostalgic. Let him.
It is beautiful.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Terence Davies, filmmaker and writer, takes us, sometimes obliquely, to his childhood and youth in Liverpool. He's born Catholic and poor; later he rejects religion. He discovers homo-eroticism, and it's tinged with Catholic guilt. Enjoying pop music gives way to a teenage love of Mahler and Wagner. Using archival footage, we take a ferry to a day on the beach. Postwar prosperity brings some positive change, but its concrete architecture is dispiriting. Contemporary colors and sights of children playing may balance out the presence of unemployment and persistent poverty. Davies' narration is a mix of his own reflections and the poems and prose of others.