Film
Please note: This was screened in Dec 2023
Set in a world before Elvis, a Liverpool before the Beatles, Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory.
In a powerful succession of searing vignettes, Davies paints an autobiographical picture of a family dominated by an oppressive patriarch (fearsomely played by Pete Postlethwaite). Using dynamic lighting, a superb soundtrack and a fragmented structure, Davies constructs a distinctive drama suffused with both beauty and horror.
A poetic masterpiece that has now acquired the status of a modern British classic.