大象传媒

There's nowt much harder than life up north according to 'film poet' Terence Davies. His 1988 drama Distant Voices, Still Lives is the cinematic equivalent of flicking through an old family photo album, except the spectacle of your dad (Pete Postlethwaite) beating the bejezus out of your ma (Freda Dowie) probably wouldn't rank as a Kodak moment for most people鈥� It's not all misery though as Davies tips his hat to the MGM musicals that helped brighten those grey days.

Drawing from his childhood in post-war Liverpool, Davies is haunted by the imposing presence of a violent father. Postlethwaite delivers a performance by turns ferocious and tragic as the action flits between the terraced house that was his fiefdom and the hospital bed where he breathes his last. Carefully composed images seem to emerge from dark corners of the house and boldly lingering shots of mundane details, like curtains wafting in the wind, heighten the eeriness.

"TRULY EVOCATIVE"

As with memories swept to the back of your mind, the story is fragmented and impressionistic. Davies draws a clear divide though, capturing the family in moments before dad's death and, after it, as his three children struggle to emerge from his shadow. Dowie is quietly regal as Mrs Davies, battling through the worst with a song in her heart. Her daughters too find solace in belting out renditions of Hollywood classics for the pub locals. Original music is used sparingly, but with powerful resonance; Mrs Davies's screams as she takes another beating feel more acute to the strains of Ella Fitzgerald's 'Taking A Chance On Love'. A tough yet truly evocative family portrait.