Review of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) by Matt C — 13 Dec 2009
A great "angry young man" drama from the British New Wave. Very realistic and very interesting this movie tells the story about a teenager who just can't give in to the system. He knows the people in charge suck and his home life is sucky so he turns to a life of petty "kid stuff" crime to alleviate both problems and have some laughs with his best friend and girlfriend. He gets caught though and sent to reform school where the governor in charge wants him to be a world class runner and the do gooder who works there wants so very much to fix his anger.
This movie does a fantabulous job at capturing the sometimes rational, sometimes irrational anger at establishment that comes in some youth. I found myself intensely remembering being that age and having that same anti-establishment feeling inside of me to the point where I couldn't even verbalize it.
The performances are strong and the story and dialogue is top notch. The only downside is the sometimes to stylized camera work (too many shots are sped up and they can come off as humorous rather than serious) but mostly it's forgiven with the old adage, "well, in the 60's they just wanted to be different.".
This review of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) was written by Matt C on 13 Dec 2009.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner has generally received very positive reviews.
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