Part 1. Part 2. Herostratus (1967) Expanding upon the ideas of screaming in The Shout, the analysis of Francis Bacon's influence on counterculture British cinema can conclude with Don Levy's 1967 film Herostratus. The film and its obsessions with textures and urban landscapes has already been discussed in other articles but Herostratus is full of … Continue reading Cinematic Identity Crises And Francis Bacon – Part 3 (Herostratus).
Objectification As Desire In The 1960s British Youth Film.
On a recent exploration of several films from the 1960s, some startling realisations occurred. A change in moral values is pretty easy to distinguish within any given time-frame but the casual representation of the era's moral values were surprising to behold. In the 1960s, the concept of the teenager was barely a decade old; a new … Continue reading Objectification As Desire In The 1960s British Youth Film.
2014 Review and Top 10s.
Best New Releases. 2014 has been a year that I've genuinely struggled to keep up with in terms of new releases. The sheer wealth of material out there and the incessant obsession of online reviewers to desperately be up-to-date has been an interesting but ultimately fruitless exercise to try and mimic. Luckily, I've watched a … Continue reading 2014 Review and Top 10s.
That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1979) – BFI Flipside.
The late 1970s and early 1980s occupy a strange realm in our current affections of nostalgia. While openly acknowledged as a problematic era for politics, riots and race/police relations being at an all time low, there has been a steady but gradual yearning for the age's art. This isn't just in the traditional sense of … Continue reading That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1979) – BFI Flipside.
Deep End (1970) and the Musical Emphasising of Narrative (Jerzy Skolimowski).
This article contains spoilers. There are many aspects of distraction within Jerzy Skolimowski's 1970 film, Deep End. Its highly sexualised, sometimes seedy narrative, its vast array of colours and its crisp, sharp direction are only a handful of its hyper-active eccentricities. Even David Lynch, a long-time pessimist about colour cinema, is on record as a … Continue reading Deep End (1970) and the Musical Emphasising of Narrative (Jerzy Skolimowski).
Interview With Digby Rumsey (BFI Flipside, The Pledge).
Director Digby Rumsey sees his BFI DVD debut this month on the Flipside release of Leslie Megahey's Schalcken the Painter. Rumsey is a traditional BFI director, coming from the same ranks as Terence Davies, Bill Douglas and Peter Greenaway. His work in Gothic short films, especially adaptations of work by Lord Dunsany, places him firmly … Continue reading Interview With Digby Rumsey (BFI Flipside, The Pledge).
Schalcken The Painter – Leslie Megahey (BFI Flipside).
The notion of gothic is quite rightly taking over the BFI at the moment. Their gothic season is looking set to be its most all encompassing and vast seasonal retrospective for some time. The gothic tint has found its way into a number of avenues including its DVD range. The Flipside label always seemed fit … Continue reading Schalcken The Painter – Leslie Megahey (BFI Flipside).
Interview with Saxon Logan (Sleepwalker, Stepping Out, Working Surface).
Saxon Logan is a director whose work in film and documentary is well praised. With the recent release of his most famous film, Sleepwalker, on the BFI Flipside label, I tracked the director down to ask him about his past, his friendships with some of the most important people in British film and his own … Continue reading Interview with Saxon Logan (Sleepwalker, Stepping Out, Working Surface).
Sleepwalker (1984) – Saxon Logan, BFI Flipside.
The latest release in the BFI Flipside series revels in the social satire of its era with glee. Though of course the main draw of the release will be Saxon Logan's main feature, Sleepwalker (1984), the release itself is built up to make a whole package of potential double and even triple bills of viewing; … Continue reading Sleepwalker (1984) – Saxon Logan, BFI Flipside.
The Early Short Films of David Gladwell.
David Gladwell may be more well known as Lindsay Anderson’s editor on such cinematic masterpieces as If.... (1968) and O Lucky Man! (1973) but his own directorial endeavours are equally worthy of discussion and analysis, especially in their relation to both his editorial work and his own creative trajectories. Whether it is the, very English, … Continue reading The Early Short Films of David Gladwell.
