MovieChat Forums > That'll Be the Day (1973) Discussion > What Became Of British Cinema?

What Became Of British Cinema?

posted 20 years ago by bigmouthstrikesagain
9 replies | jump to latest

Remember the days when Britain put out a stream of films that reflected the real lives of our people, when we were the last bastion of culture and good taste? What happened to that? The only films we seem to put out now are sickly romantic comedies like Notting Hill and Four Weddings, which while moderately amusing, seem to cater for the American view of the English, where we all drink endless cups of tea and policemen still ride bicycles. Guy Richie's films are quite entertaining, although they are hardly a celebratation of our culture and the everyday lives of the people in it.

I feel a revival of the kitchen sink drama is long overdue. Has it escaped the notice of film makers that our two most popular television programmes are Eastenders and Coronation Street? It's about time we stopped trying to supply what we think the Americans want, like some kind of jukebox, and start catering for our own market again. Look how excellent East Is East was, and how few modern films there are that are like it. No wonder our film industry is in tatters. What happened to art for art's sake, rather than the blatant quest for return on investment?

I've seen this happen in other peoples lives and now it's happening in mine.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HeatherMac320 18 years ago

Couldn't agree with you more! It seems the only films made today that reflect a real sense of Britan, are films by Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

Naughty Peach

[–] chrismartonuk-1 17 years ago

It was argued in one book that Boys From The Blackstuff showed that everyday life was too uncomfortable for most people to want to watch it on screen! Of course. there is always The Full Monty! But Coronation Street is stuck in an early 60's timewarp and hardly qualfies as a convincing picture of contemporary Britian whilst Eastenders is a Guardian-reading social workers wet dream!

[–] BethH24 16 years ago

I couldnt agree more.Most British films were made a long time ago,there doesnt seem to be as many these days,and there arent really any good British sitcoms now either,well not as good as they used to be,and there should be more good new ones !.

I think the problem is society has changed alot since then,sadly.Most thing on tv today are rubbish,because,sadly,thats how some things in real life have become.For example,these days,you see programmes where alot of young people are dressed the same,and act the same,there is no individuality like there used to be.

It might surprise you,but i'm only in my twenties ,so i am a young person myself,but i think i am old fashioned,in that i like alot of old music,films,tv sitcoms,e.t.c.I've just loved older things for a long time.There are afew new things i like,not many.

[–] John-367 15 years ago

Many aspects to all this but a couple of factors:

The funding of UK films is now largely dependent on raising at least some of the budget - or at least getting pre-sales - from abroad. Anything too insular is going to struggle to get financed.

Kitchen sink as such in the UK cinema has never been that popular.
The original kitchen sink dramas of the early 60s were sold, believe it or not, on their sexual frankness. For example, Room at the Top was one of the first X films and the original trailer plays heavily on this fact. After a small handful of these films the trend petered out in favour of Swinging London, Spy films, capers and other cinema fashions.

More recently, the films of Loach and Leigh are not significant boxoffice draws. If it wasn't for quasi-govt/cultural film financing, tax incentives etc most of their films wouldn't have been made at all. Loach and Leigh's films are watched mainly by the film-literate middle-class, not the people who most of their films are actually about.

This tends to confirm my belief that people go to the cinema to experience something which they themselves do not normally experience (NOT the same thing as "escapism"). If you live in culturally-rich comfort then a film set on a rough housing estate is exotic - Bicycle Thieves, one of the major works of realism was not popular in Italy, where it was set, but was successful in much of the rest of the world where its portrait of Rome's post-war poor was unfamiliar.
If you live in an urban wasteland or in depressed times, the last thing you want to see is more of the same.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Excellent points. Frankly, American cinema is not in any better shape these days, for much the same reason: Realism is seen as too depressing.

[–] StarskyandChinaHutch 11 years ago

This could probably be said of any country's cinematic output anywhere.

[–] greenbudgie 10 years ago

I like kitchen sink dramas. But the cinema seems to ignore this type of film. TV soaps are the nearest we have to seeing real life portrayed on the screen.

[–] YourFlask 8 years ago

I can recommend Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold and Ratcatcher by Lynne Ramsay, if you're still alive. If not, please ignore this message.