Midnite-ish Movies #32: “Great Brits” July 18, 2007

Midnite-ish Movies #32: “Great Brits”
8:00 Alan Clarke’s Elephant (1989) 39 mins
Alan Clarke was part of a loose movement of British filmmakers, including Ken Loach and Mike Leigh (see MM#34), who cut their teeth in the socially conscious world of U.K. television. Both the stylistic and titular inspiration of the 2003 Gus Van Sant film, this film depicts a series of 18 individual killings in Belfast. Without narrative or much dialogue, the result is a poignant (and beautifully photographed) metaphor on the problems of Northern Ireland and our ability to become desensitized to violence. This was to be Clarke’s last film.
8:45 TBA
9:20 Alan Clarke’s Made In Britain (1982) 73 mins.
Also titled Tales Out of School: Made in Britain, Tim Roth was just twenty-years-old when he made his acting debut as Trevor the Skinhead. Essentially the exploits of young neo-Nazi and his social worker’s attempts to keep him in line, this film boils with a believable intensity often lacking in the juvenile delinquent genre. Roth’s almost haunting portrayal of misguided rebellion is without question a career highlight.

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