UPDATE: the
Digital/On-Demand
release of this film,
via 1091, will be
available on
April 14, 2020
There's a scene in
RAY & LIZ, the new autobiographical movie from photographer/ artist/teacher
Richard Billingham, in which a member of the extended family named Lol, marvellously played by
Tony Way (below), stops in for a visit, after which the title characters Ray and Liz (Billingham's utterly incompetent parents -- he's an alcoholic, she's grossly overweight and problemed by fuck-all), go shopping and leave Lol with the care of their very young son.
Lol has been warned to leave alone the booze in the apartment, but soon arrives a new character -- a nasty young man, either a tenant, relative or supposed friend -- who brings out that booze, get Lol roaring drunk, and then....
This scene, arriving maybe a quarter way into things offers the suspense of Hitchcock, the possibilities inherent in the most awful of any current horror movie, and a growing sense of a dreadful injustice that is about to befall an innocent character (or two). The filmmaker, shown below, could hardly have crafted a more riveting scene had he been making full-length movies over an entire lifetime (he's known mostly as a photographer, I believe).
Mr. Billingham's skills, as writer and director, seem to
TrustMovies both legion and limited, in that he is able to visually offer up a truly horrible story of an abusive childhood, due more to utter neglect than anything else -- the movie may remind you, thanks to its lower-working-class setting and child abuse, of the work of
Terence Davies, though in style, it is light years away from Davies -- that is artful, often very effective, but in the end lacking in much depth-of-character.
This is due to a screenplay and to writing that is simply missing (though it is made up for, to an extent, by the acting on view). We do not really get to know these people much at all. They exist as one-note creations: alcoholic, overweight, mean-and-nasty, and in a couple of cases caring-and-helpful.
The children, thanks mostly to their age and lack of experience, also come across in this way: One seems fascinated with the natural world and animal life (
Joshua Millard-Lloyd, above); the other, a teenager (playing the younger Mr. Billingham, I presume), seems typically self-involved and absent, though his plea toward the end of the film, "Can I get foster parents, too?" is moving and certainly understandable, given his circumstances.
Fortunately, the film has been cast very well. Every character, older or younger version (
Ray & Liz takes place over three time periods, with the most recent one acting as a wrap-around frame), seems dead-on, usually giving us at least a taste of what the little, sometimes undecipherable dialog leaves out. The title characters are played by
Justin Salinger and
Ella Smith (shown above, right and left, respectively), and both fill their roles with as much specific behavior as they are able (she is given much more dialog than he).
Overall, while the movie captures neglect, along with despair, repressed anger and near-squalor with remarkable zeal and thoroughness, we never really know these people much. Nor, maybe, would we want to. Still... Knowing, understanding... isn't that the point?
I did enjoy the short scene in which young Jason feeds a giraffe, and wondered at how he managed to collect an array of pet snails without mom tossing them out (ah, neglect has its benefits!). And the nighttime scenes are captured with the eye of the artist, while other moments -- the bunny rabbit in the baby carriage -- offer surprise, charm and wit. I think you'll remember
Ray & Liz for certain scenes and moments, even if you're not completely taken with its British
miserabilism whole.
From
KimStim and running a long, harrowing 108 minutes, the movie has its U.S. theatrical premiere this coming Wednesday, July 10, in New York City at
Film Forum. Upcoming playdates include the
Zeitgeist Theatre and Lounge in Arabi, Louisiana, and the
Vancity Theatre, Vancouver, both on July 12, and
Laemmle's Royal in West Los Angeles on July 19. Click
here, then click on Playdates, to see if others have been added subsequent to this post.
TrustMovies apologizes for earlier posting
one of Mr. Billingham's photos above,
under the guise of its being
the photographer/filmmaker himself.
That mistake has now been corrected.
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