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This book presents a radical reappraisal of one of the most persistent and misunderstood aspects of British cinema: social realism. Through means of close textual analysis, David Forrest advances the case that social realism has provided British national culture with a consistent and distinctive art cinema, arguing that a theoretical re-assessment of the mode can enable it to be located within the context of broader traditions of global cinema. The book begins with the documentary movement and British wartime cinema, before moving to the British new wave and social problem cycle; the films of Ken Loach; the films of Mike Leigh; realism in the 1980s, specifically the work of Stephen Frears and Alan Clarke; before concluding with a discussion of contemporary realist cinema, specifically the work of Shane Meadows, Andrea Arnold and other recent exponents of the mode. These case studies give a thorough platform to explore the most prominent and diverse examples of realist practice in Britain over the last 80 years. The construction and critical analysis of this ‘social realist canon’ creates the conditions to reassess and look anew at this most British of cinematic traditions.
Five frightfully British children's nannies find themselves tasked with pulling off the most extraordinary theft of all time - they must steal the gigantic, 200-million-year-old skeleton of a brontosaurus from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Why? Hidden somewhere in the skeleton is a microdot containing Chinese military secrets that could be vital to the survival of the British Empire. And they aren't the only ones looking for the stolen secrets. Chinese spies and American counter-espionage agents both have a bone to pick with Nannie Hettie and her cohorts. The Great Dinosaur Robbery is a British comedy classic that inpired the Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing starring Peter Ustinov.
The tradition of British realism has changed dramatically over the last 20 years, where films by directors such as Duane Hopkins, Joanna Hogg, Andrea Arnold, Shane Meadows and Clio Barnard have suggested a markedly poetic turn. This new realism rejects the instrumentalism and didacticism of filmmakers like Ken Loach in favour of lyrical and often ambiguous encounters with place, where the physical processes of lived experience interacts with the rhythms of everyday life. Taking these 5 filmmakers as case studies, this book seeks to explore in depth this new tradition of British cinema - and in the process, it reignites debates over realism that have concerned scholars for decades.
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This is the story of a young priest in the tiny French village of St. Pierre-des-Monts who receives a telephone call from God warning that he is about to destroy mankind with a second great flood. Only Father Benoir and his misfit flock will be saved, but they must hurry, said God, and build an ark like Noah's. AFTER ME, THE DELUGE is an outrageous, irreverent comedy which inspired one of Italy's longest running stage musicals which has been seen by over fifteen million people since it's debut in 1974.
A renowned psychiatrist explores the world of slot machine gambling and the almost religious devotion that has turned it into a billion-dollar industry. This astonishing book reveals that there’s a lot more to playing slot machines—one of America’s fastest growing forms of entertainment—than good fun, deep relaxation and the dream of a multi-million-dollar jackpot. Slots tells how the machines work, how the random numbers that govern them are generated, and how the casinos make their profit . . . slowly but surely . . . as they keep only a dime of every dollar invested. It also offers strategies of slot play, and suggests alternate activities to distract us when casinos become harmfu...
Ken Loach's 1969 drama Kes, considered one of the finest examples of British social realism, tells the story of Billy, a working class boy who finds escape and meaning when he takes a fledgling kestrel from its nest. David Forrest's study of the film examines the genesis of the original novel, Barry Hines' A Kestrel for a Knave (1968), the eventual collaboration that brought it to the screen, and the film's funding and production processes. He provides an in depth analysis of key scenes and draws on archival sources to shed new light on the film's most celebrated moments. He goes on to consider the film's lasting legacy, having influenced films like Ratcatcher (1999) and This is England (200...
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