TEASER - 149: Terence Davies (with Ben Nash and James Slaymaker)

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To mark the passing of the great British filmmaker Terence Davies, I’m joined for this episode by two returning guests from the UK who are both big Davies heads, the film writers Ben Nash and James Slaymaker.

Davies was from the working class and only became a filmmaker in his thirties but made up for lost time with a series of semi-autobiographical, poetic works that drew on his troubled upbringing and instantly put him on the map of international cinema. After some underperforming literary adaptations in the nineties Davies had difficulties getting film financing for several years, but in 2008 he returned to acclaim with his expressionistic and personal documentary about the history of Liverpool, Of Time and the City which kicked off his second wind as a filmmaker through the 2010s including The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song and his final work, 2022’s biography of the queer anti-war poet and decorated WWI soldier Siegfried Sassoon, Benediction.

We discuss Davies’ singular vision as an film artist, his innovations in using stock footage and music to express his personal vision, his hilarious distaste for the Catholic Church, the Monarchy and the Beatles, and the sad state of film financing in the UK.

Currently Canadian and American listeners can stream Distant Voices, Still Lives and Of Time and the City on Kanopy.

Follow Ben Nash and James Slaymaker on Twitter.

Trailer for Distant Voices, Still Lives (Davies, 1988)

Trailer for The Long Day Closes (Davies, 1992)

Trailer for Of Time and the City (Davies, 2008)

Trailer for Benediction (Davies, 2022)

Trailer for The Long Gray Line (John Ford, 1955)