Customer Reviews

Of Time and The City

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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

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.

Of Time and the City isn't only about Liverpool. It could just as well be speaking of Detroit today or any other city decimated by "progress" and the pursuit of the next new thing. The people progress from childhood to old age as observers of growth and decay while all the time it is happening to them too. The film is a brilliant allegory about life in the modern world. The narration seems to begin with admiration, journey through disappointment, only to arrive at hope for the next generation. The constant quotes read as captions to the photography are worth the price alone. The narrator's personal comments may rile some but are only part of a portrait of life in the big city. It ain't all hearts and flowers.

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...

beautiful elegiac documentary marred by scratches/glitches at the end whichcaused picture distortion and loss of sound

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.

Utterly compelling. Seeing and hearing and listening to the parent past. For the first time. The architecture of decay and children play. Surpassed. I glanced at my parents' picture on the wall. Open-air swimming pools crowded. Glad.

And onward change tries to hide. And fails. The people who won their war. Betrayed. The 'fossil monarchy' should be gone, gone, gone. Not like ballroom dancing but The Bomb.

Creative souls like us should thrive through time unclocked. Defined. And people talking is one person's only hope. Together. I love this time of plenty. Out of mind.

Terence portrays in poetry as I review in kind. An unsentimental journey where I thought I would cry. I did not. See this documentary for who you are now. And for the cell-phone taking the place of crowds.

I was born in Liverpool and left when I was 19. I lived in the suburb of Norris Green from age 8 until I left to come to the USA. I was irritated with the narrator's accent. He must have taken lots of voice lessons. I couldn't believe this guy was a Liverpudlian. I felt this dvd showed the dark side of Liverpool, very dreary and his strange "poetic" verse didn't make much sense. Why not tell the viewer where and at what time the film was made. In fact I absolutely hated it.I gave it away!

Having left Liverpool at the age of 18, back in 1974, much of the content of the film was touchingly familiar. However, the pretentious and somewhat precious prattling of the commentary is somewhat irritating; espacially in the first 20 minutes or so. Frankly, Scousers don't give a toss that the maker of the film had a problem reconciling his Catholicism with his sexual orientation. Boo hoo and big deal. The thing that makes Liverpool so exceptional among English cities is the character, wit and sheer bloody exuberance of its people. Seeing the crowds at New Brighton and pouring off the Ferry at Pier Head reminded me of the catastrophic decline in the population of Liverpool. Almost all of my generation just buggered off in disgust. Many of those left behind ended up in Cantrill Farm, Kirkby and other cheap and nasty concrete dumping grounds for the once proud inhabitants of this once great city. Militant Tendancy, Toxteth riots and thousands of Yosser Hugheses did nothing to convince anyone that the place was worth rescuing. Just remember all the fuss about the "Garden Festival" and then go and take a look at the sad wreckage that is all that is left of that early example of cynical political spin-doctoring. When I go to Liverpool these days (every 2 years or so) the place seems grotty, derelict and almost deserted. But the people are still among the best on Earth although, God knows, they have been let down badly. Snazzy new shopping centres and silly, money-wasting "Years of Culture" are no substitute for and cannot replace Liverpool's former greatness as a gateway to the world and a bustling centre of manufacturing enterprise. This film is wonderful nostalgia which really touched me deeply but it's time to stop wallowing in the past and move on. I pray for a sequel called "The Liver Bird Flies Again".