Pete Postlethwaite and Freda Dowie shine in Terence Davies’s remarkable 1988 portrait of a working-class Liverpool family that is as gripping as any thriller
Its austere beauty, artistry and wrenching sadness are undimmed after 30 years, and there is nothing distant or still about it. Terence Davies’s early autobiographical masterpiece from 1988, is now rereleased in cinemas, and for all the formal technique and the theatrically controlled tableaux, the drama is vividly present and alive.
These are Davies’s scenes from the life of a white working-class family in Liverpool, during and after the second world war, scenes summoned up out of order by the family’s memories. They are ruled over by a terrifying dad. This is an impressive performance from the great Pete Postlethwaite – an abusive, violent man who might now be diagnosed with depression, but is nonetheless capable of humour and gentleness. Equally great is Freda Dowie as Mum,...
Its austere beauty, artistry and wrenching sadness are undimmed after 30 years, and there is nothing distant or still about it. Terence Davies’s early autobiographical masterpiece from 1988, is now rereleased in cinemas, and for all the formal technique and the theatrically controlled tableaux, the drama is vividly present and alive.
These are Davies’s scenes from the life of a white working-class family in Liverpool, during and after the second world war, scenes summoned up out of order by the family’s memories. They are ruled over by a terrifying dad. This is an impressive performance from the great Pete Postlethwaite – an abusive, violent man who might now be diagnosed with depression, but is nonetheless capable of humour and gentleness. Equally great is Freda Dowie as Mum,...
- 8/30/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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