What the Cannes critics say

May 21 2008 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

THE one truly great movie to emerge so far has been Terence Davies’s Of Time and the City; it’s not only this writer who considers it some kind of masterpiece... this film is as personal, as universal in its relevance, and as gloriously cinematic as anything he has done.

TIME OUT

Davies's film is made of old documentary footage, brilliantly illuminated by music and his commentary. It intertwines Davies' own story with the story of the redevelopment of his home town of Liverpool. It pivots around a sequence that shows utopian tower blocks being built and then falling into decay, to the tune of Peggy Lee singing The Folks That Live on the Hill. It's an elegant, angry sequence that tells a story recognisable to anyone who grew up in a city after the war.

THE GUARDIAN

For my money, this is a British masterpiece, a brilliant assemblage ofŠ images that illuminate our past. Not only does it tug the heart-strings but it's also savagely funny.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

There’s a similarity of tone to James Mason’s narration in the 1967 film The London Nobody Knows, another portrait of a changing city that would make a rewarding double bill with this regret-filled love letter to Liverpool.

THE TIMES