Of Time and the City

Of Time and the City
Directed by	Terence Davies
Produced by	Solon Papadopoulos, Roy Boulter
Written by	Terence Davies
Music by	Ian Neil
Cinematography	Tim Pollard (cinematographer)
Edited by	Liza Ryan-Carter
Distributed by	British Film Institute
Release dates	28 May 2008 (2008-05-28) (Cannes Film Festival) 31 October 2008 (2008-10-31) (United Kingdom)
Running time	72 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Of Time and the City is a 2008 documentary collage film directed by Terence Davies.

The film has Davies recalling his life growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 1960s, using newsreel and documentary footage supplemented by his own commentary voiceover and contemporaneous and classical music soundtracks.

The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where it received rave reviews.^[1] Time Out said "The one truly great movie to emerge so far (from Cannes)..... this film is as personal, as universal in its relevance, and as gloriously cinematic as anything he has done"^[1] and The Guardian called it "a British masterpiece, a brilliant assemblage of images that illuminate our past. Not only does it tug the heart-strings but it's also savagely funny."^[1] BBC TV film critic Mark Kermode nominated it as the best overall film of 2008 on his "Kermode Awards" section of The Culture Show, and Duane Byrge from The Hollywood Reporter lauded the film as "poetically composed" and a "masterwork".^[2]

Of Time and the City won Best Documentary in the Australian Film Critics Association awards for 2009.

References within the film

Poetry and literature

• A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman (opening narration, with the line "the land of lost content")
• "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
• "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe
• "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh
• Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
• "Poem 301" by Emily Dickinson.
• Anton Chekhov
• James Joyce

Music

• Gustav Mahler
• Dmitri Shostakovich
• Jean Sibelius
• Anton Bruckner
• The Protecting Veil by John Tavener
• "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" recorded by The Hollies used over images of the Korean War
• "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" performed by Peggy Lee whilst showing images of the newly erected tower blocks
• The Beatles
• Elvis Presley
• Victor Sylvester

Fashion

• Coco Chanel
• Elsa Schiaparelli

Landmarks

• Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
• Aintree Racecourse
• Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King
• St. George's Hall, Liverpool
• Sefton Park
• Liverpool Stadium
• River Mersey
• Liverpool Exchange railway station
• New Brighton Tower
• Royal Liver Building
• Cunard Building
• Port of Liverpool Building
• Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm

Nearby Locales

• Salford, Greater Manchester
• New Brighton, Merseyside

Regular Events

• Guy Fawkes Night
• The Twelfth
• May Day

Sports

• Accrington Stanley F.C.
• Sheffield F.C.
• Hamilton Academical F.C.
• Queen of the South F.C.
• Preston North End F.C.
• Blackpool F.C.
• Everton F.C.
• West Ham United F.C.
• Leicester City F.C.
• Leeds United A.F.C.
• Manchester United F.C.
• Grand National

Celebrities

• Kenneth Horne
• Gene Kelly
• Dirk Bogarde
• Bob Danvers-Walker
• Michael O'Hehir
• Peter O'Sullevan

Scholars

• Carl Jung
• Friedrich Engels

Radio programmes

• Julian and Sandy

Laws

• Sexual Offences Act 1956

Religious leaders

• John Carmel Heenan
• Pope Pius XII
• Pope John XXIII

Historical figures

• William III of England

Contemporary

• Hovis bread
• Bakelite radio

See also

• The Memories of Angels, a similarly constructed film about Montreal
• David Edelstein's Top films of 2009

External links

• Of Time and the City – official website.
• Of Time and the City at the Internet Movie Database.
• – Full transcript (pdf format).

References

Films directed by Terence Davies Children (1976 – short) Madonna and Child (1980 – short) Death and Transfiguration (1983 – short) The Terence Davies Trilogy (1984) Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) The Long Day Closes (1992) The Neon Bible (1995) The House of Mirth (2000) Of Time and the City (2008) The Deep Blue Sea (2011)