My 2008 TIFF Experiece (4th in a series)

On the evening of Sunday September 7, I saw "Of Time and The City" at the AMC 6 theatre. The film was screened as part of the TIFF 08 Masters series and film-maker Terence Davies was in attendance for a post screening Q&A.

The movie is a highly personal essay inspired by the director's life-long relationship with his hometown of Liverpool. Using mainly black and white archival film footage and spanning a period from the Korean War, through the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, from the peak of merseybeat under Beatlemania, right up until the present day (where de-consecrated churches have become repurposed trendy upscale eateries), the movie chronicles Davies' journey of self discovery within Liverpool; his rite of passage from a hyper-religious Catholic child, obedient to authority and guilt-ridden over his homosexuality, through to maturity as an anti-monarchist and atheist that has clearly found his own voice (figuratively and literally (Terence also narrates)).

The strength of the film lies in the clever juxtaposition of the images with recitals of poetry, highly personal reminisces and very evocative (mainly classical) soundtrack music selections (although the scenes set to vocals (Peggy Lee's "The Folks That Live on the Hill" and "Dirty Old Town") accompany some of the film's most emotionally potent passages). Though commissioned by the city's cultural czars, the film is not afraid to expose Liverpool as an at tmes grimy, filthy, slimy, sooty, slummy, concrete, eternally drizzly, broken down industrial wasteland at the edge of a gray cold sea. Yet that is contrasted with the simple beauty of the emotions traced on the faces of the hordes, young and old, rising above (taking the ferry for a daytrip, swimming at the beach, attending a football or wrestling match, going to the fair or wagering on the Grand National steeplechase) the sometimes dehumanizing cityscapes they occupy.

At times romantic and nostalgic but never maudlin, treacly or fearful of spitting at the foot of authority (whether the church, the monarchy or city planners) the film is the perfectly balanced work of an artist still at his creative prime. Highly recommended.