Is the U.K. unable to recognise its own film talent?

[Hugh K. David]

From Pro-B's review of Metrodome's release of SHIFTY:

"I don’t know if this really is the case, but on this side of the Atlantic, as of late, it feels like there is something very special going on in the United Kingdom. During the last couple of years, I have seen some remarkably strong films – Jan Dunn’s Gypo, Paul Andrew Williams’ London to Birghton, Andrea Arnold’s Red Road, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Duane Hopkins’ Better Things, Anton Corbijn’s Control, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, etc – that I think point to a trend. Yet, I regularly talk to fellow colleagues who cover the local film scene there and they just don’t seem as excited about it as I am. So, I wonder – am I imagining things or the people that I talk to incapable of seeing the elephant in the room?"

What do others feel about this? Is Pro-B correct?

I'm interested in what people think, especially those living outside the U.K. It wouldn't be the first time we here didn't notice an entire movement building beneath our feet. However, given that Michael Winterbottom has been able to keep making films for fifteen years now, always able to give a return to his investors, it's interesting to realise he's not alone, that others have got careers going in his wake, and that in the absence of previous film-making cultures (theatre, TV, advertising, second-unit shooting for US films) interesting directors are still emerging.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Hi Hugh,

I'm no film buff, but I can honestly say that the films I have seen in the last decade or two that came from outside of the "Hollywood" machine, are much more interesting and refreshing. Moviemakers in England and in the rest of Europe have a tremendous knack of taking a simple concept and making it into a fascinating story. I believe they are much better at conveying the grittiness of life through a lens, that N.A. filmmakers seem afraid of capturing.

In Hollywood films are produced based on a formula, and I don't think that's the case overseas. Maybe filmmakers here feel more pressure to have their project make money.

I know this is a simplistic way of viewing things, and, like I said, I am no film buff. It just seems that the truly interesting and captivating films aren't produced by Hollywood.

John

[Hugh K. David]

Hi John,

Thanks for the fast reply. I've always agreed with you, which is one of the reasons I've ended up working for Palisades Tartan. However, I do think that both US mainstream and indie films have picked up over the last year or two. That sad, I think Pro-B's real point is about whether these directors are prophets without honour in their own country, or whether we here in the UK recognise what we have.

Certainly, most of the titles Pro-B mentions got very good reviews here in the U.K. from the likes of Sight & Sound, Guardian, Independent, Time Out, Mark Kermode, etc. It may just be that the wider critical establishment in the UK does not recognise them, or that we need to point Pro-B in the direction of the above for his regular UK reading

I am reminded of two classic issues with the UK critical establishment: to damn with faint praise, and the old NME attitude: Build 'em up, knock'em up down...