THE LONG DAY CLOSES
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 2.8
Date Released: varies Running Length: 1:23 Rated: PG (Mature themes)
Starring: Marjorie Yates, Leigh McCormack, Anthony Watson,
Nicholas Lamont, Ayse Owens
Director: Terence Davies
Producer: Olivia Stewart
Screenplay: Terrance Davies
Music: various composers
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
THE LONG DAY CLOSES is a film that takes several months in the life of Bud (Leigh McCormack), a twelve year old boy growing up in 1956 Liverpool, and gives us a series of glimpses into some of the most ordinary, everyday moments that occur. This is a movie without plot and with precious little characterization. It moves along at a snail's pace, progressively losing more and more of the audience as it becomes apparent that absolutely nothing is going to happen.
THE LONG DAY CLOSES is very much the visual equivalent of a verse or a poem: beautiful images, but no narrative (that's not to imply that poems often don't have deeper meanings). This movie is a visual feast and a cinematographer's dream, but for the average movie-goer, eighty-three minutes of odd camera-angles and interesting shots is too much.
The audience at the showing I attended numbered about twenty at the start of the film. By the end, it was down to about fifteen. Personally, I don't think the movie was bad enough to walk out on, but I can understand why those who left did so. Movies can survive without coherent stories if they have solid, three-dimensional characters. THE LONG DAY CLOSES has neither and, as a result, ends up being an overly-long bore. Numerous opportunities for character development are left dangling, and we're forced to watch a bunch of people we never get to feel for. Even Bud, who's in nearly every scene, is flat and uninteresting.
Supposedly, Terence Davies has filmed his childhood memories. That's an interesting notion, and in the context of the movie, it's easy to see how this could be the case- a great deal of attention is paid to the smallest details. Unfortunately, except in unusual circumstances, the mundane recollections of a person aren't the kinds of cinematic gems designed to captivate an audience. There are a few incidents in THE LONG DAY CLOSES that briefly caught my attention, but they couldn't hold it. On those rare occasions when the film managed to strike a responsive chord within me, it let the opportunity slip away. Then it was back to staring at meaningless images on the screen again.
I can't recommend THE LONG DAY CLOSES to any but the most devout art film students and die-hard lovers of unusual cinematography. For anyone else that happens to see this movie, they will likely find the title a fitting one. After getting out of the theater, it will certainly seem like it's been a long day.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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