Ray & Liz

Sat. Sep 14, 2019 2:15pm - 4:15pm EDT
All Ages
$9.00 - $10.00
All Ages
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Event Stats
$9.00 - $10.00
All Ages
Event Description

Film information: 2018dir Richard Billingham w/ Ella Smith, Justin Salinger, Patrick Romer, Deirdre Kelly, Tony Way, Sam Gittins, Joshua Millard-Lloyd, 108 min, DCP 


Somewhere at the intersection of Terence Davies and Ken Loach, acclaimed British photographer Richard Billingham takes a leap from still photography and video installation to the big screen with startling results. RAY & LIZ is his lyrically gritty evocation of growing up in council housing on the outskirts of Birmingham – and the margins of society – during the Thatcher era. It was one of our favorites of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and we’re excited to have the opportunity to share it with Boston audiences. 


The film opens with elderly Ray – a wiry drunk and wastrel – living in the relative isolation of a subsidized garret where he seems to subsist solely on unmarked bottles of mysterious brown booze. The rest of the film flashes back over other episodes that focus on the imposing (at times menacing) presence of his ex-wife Liz, a chain-smoking harpy who lords over the family’s tiny house from her seat at the table. Like real life evocations of Jack Sprat and his wife, these two opposites are seen through ordinarily extraordinary episodes involving child-endangerment, slow-witted relatives, cruelty, poverty, drunkeness, and so, so many cigarettes – but also a great deal of humor and beauty. Ultimately, Billingham’s deeply-felt, stunningly gorgeous, warts-and-all film reveals a universal truth – that people’s circumstances and lives are rarely as simple as they seem at first impression. 

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Venue Details
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Brattle Theatre 40 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
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