Underplayed Gems

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
Directed by
Terence Davies
Genre
drama film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 25m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.8 of 10 from 135 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film shows the daily lives of a working-class family in Liverpool from the 1940s into the early 1950s. It focuses on how music, movies, and the local pub shaped their close community.

melancholicnostalgiclyricalslow-burnintimateevocativebitter-sweetgritty

What happens

Distant Voices, Still Lives is a 1988 British period drama film written and directed by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular music, Hollywood cinema, light entertainment and the public house within this tight-knit community. The film won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association. In 1988 the film won the Golden Leopard of the Locarno Film Festival. In 2007 the British Film Institute re-printed and distributed the film across some of Britain's most high-profile independent cinemas, prompting The Guardian newspaper to describe Distant Voices, Still Lives as "Britain's forgotten cinematic masterpiece". In a 2011 poll carried out by Time Out of the 100 greatest British films of all time, Distant Voices, Still Lives was ranked third. The film is now sometimes seen as one of the best films ever made. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.