Review of Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) by Noel V — 25 Aug 2010
Unbearably beautiful. Davies takes autobiographical traumas and pins them on the big screen like dried bleeding trophies for all to see. The early scenes are almost all group portraits of family members harboring some horrifying memory, almost all involving the father (Pete Postlethwaite, monstrous and brilliant).
The family looks like diorama figurines in a picture frame only inches deep, backgrounded by an intentionally blank wall, trapped as well as immortalized in Davies' inescapably airless museum. It's as if the father were directing this picture, deciding on the featureless wallpaper, the size and depth of their cage, their only escape being dance, music, song.
An amazing, agonizing film.
This review of Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) was written by Noel V on 25 Aug 2010.
Distant Voices, Still Lives has generally received very positive reviews.
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