OF TIME AND THE CITY (AUSSER KONKURRENZ)

"And now I’m an alien in my own land", regrets Terence Davies, whose sonorous voice-over commentary runs through this film essay. 20 years after his masterpiece "Distant Voices, Still Lives", a melancholic and rebellious Davies returns to Liverpool for this very personal homage to his hometown. Rich historical footage from the 40s to the 70s is blended into a dense composition of sound, image and text, which covers literary geniuses from P.B. Shelley to Chekhov, from James Joyce to T.S. Eliot. Permeated by Davies’ love for the theatrical, melodrama, musicals and the cinema, Of Time and The City is also a social history of Liverpool’s working classes and failed redevelopment programmes and a bitter reckoning with those in power, be it the Catholic Church or the Head of the Church of England, "Betty Windsor". Unrivalled is the way in which Davies juxtaposes film images with musical scores: Peggy Lee’s "The Folks That Live on the Hill" and The Hollies "He Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother)" will stick with these sombre images of Liverpool for a long time.

"Davies' voiceover narration is as rich and dark and fruity as Dundee cake laced with mescaline." Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"His work is pure cinematic poetry." Jane Giles, British Film Institute