Set against the backdrop of Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, the play depicts a single mother’s struggles in this highly polemical and unremittingly bleak diatribe against government welfare cuts from the poor and disabled. The derogatory term ‘spongers’ is used by British tabloid press to describe people who are dependent on welfare support, however the play presents the case of a family who desperately need the help.

Quote:
The Spongers caused something of a stir when it was broadcast, not least for the opening shot (deftly inserted by director Roland Joffe at the last possible moment before transmission) of outsize cut-outs of the Queen and Prince Philip, over which the title is cheekily superimposed …

… It’s one of the most powerful dramas the BBC, or anyone, have shown, and as such presents the strongest possible case for the “naturalism” that many Play for Today writers were determined to get away from. The ensemble playing is brilliantly done, with interruptions and improvised stutters giving a documentary feel that, while grossly overused (even misused) these days, is wholly convincing here. Joffe’s camerawork is uniformly flat – either huge hand-held close-ups bring us right into the action, or telephoto long shots distance us, as in the final scene, like a news report. It’s entirely the right thing to do – the shabby reality of life at “the bottom of the pile” is presented as a constant, a prison the characters can never escape from with tricksy flashbacks or flights of technical reverie.

2.35GB | 1h 43m | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/42C36021057E444/The.Spongers.1978.BDRIP.576p.x264.AC3.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:English SDH

The post Roland Joffé – Play for Today: The Spongers (1978) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Alan Bleasdale’s five-part series spin-off of the 1980 TV play The Black Stuff relates the further experiences of unemployed Liverpudlian tarmac layers Dixie, Chrissie, Loggo and Yosser, and their revered older friend, retired longshoreman and union leader, George Malone. As they struggle to make ends meet in a depressed economy, and to hold together their financially battered families, they are harassed by the petty bureaucrats of the DHSS. But the lumbering investigational juggernaut is, both comically and tragically, guided by drivers with only a provisional license.

https://nitro.download/view/BEA1F4622216BBC/Boys.from.the.Blackstuff.-.S01E01.-.Jobs.for.the.Boys.1982.DVD.AC3.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv https://nitro.download/view/96CCAC31BA80F3E/Boys.from.the.Blackstuff.-.S01E02.-.Moonlighter.1982.DVD.AC3.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv https://nitro.download/view/C0CE72C1302647A/Boys.from.the.Blackstuff.-.S01E03.-.Shop.Thy.Neighbour.1982.DVD.AC3.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv https://nitro.download/view/4A7517BB1031A27/Boys.from.the.Blackstuff.-.S01E04.-.Yosser’s.Story.1982.DVD.AC3.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv https://nitro.download/view/1BCDCD897E554D5/Boys.from.the.Blackstuff.-.S01E05.-.George’s.Last.Ride.1982.DVD.AC3.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English SDH

The post Alan Bleasdale & Philip Saville – Boys from the Blackstuff (1982) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A 2-part programme exploring the history of drug use by creative artists, for the ‘Without Walls’ strand of Channel 4.

Presented by: Bernard Hill
Written by: David Gale
Produced by: Jon Blair
Directed by: Storm Thorgerson
Soundtrack by: David Gilmour

Bernard speaks with some of the very artists through the ages who used drugs:

Thomas de Quincey, Edgar Allen Poe, Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire, Gérard de Nerval, Jean Cocteau, Robert Graves, Anais Nin, Andy Warhol, William Burroughs & Ken Kesey.

Many other living artists, historians and biographers offer their own analysis.

A comment by Storm Thorgerson:

Wondrous are the ways of Television. I wanted to make a film series about the physiology and psychology of certain extreme experiences like trances, falling in love, getting religion, taking LSD, isolation and so on, called The Science of Tripping. This was ‘accidently’ seen by the arts commissioner of Ch 4, Waldemar Januszczak, who said artists have experiences and take drugs don’t they? So lets do the Art of Tripping – an exploration of the interrelationship between the imaginative, artistic experience and the narcotic, pschedelic experience, the connection between artists and drugs. What could be more stimulating? David Gale composed an excellent script to my outline structure as a one hour documentary, which was changed at the last moment to a two parter, not that we were complaining. The end result was fine, or so we thought, and it was great to see it broadcast, actually on telly there in the living room, and it got good reviews, and Ch 4 were very complimentary.

700MB | 1 h 43 min | 512×384 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/72C21BB81415C1C/The_Art_of_Tripping_(23rd_February_1993)_(1-2)__VHSRip_(Xvid)_.avi
https://nitro.download/view/C8572064A33FE6C/The_Art_of_Tripping_(23rd_February_1993)_(2-2)__VHSRip_(Xvid)_.avi
or
https://tezfiles.com/file/28d38952755bd/The_Art_of_Tripping_%2823rd_February_1993%29_%282-2%29_%5BVHSRip_%28Xvid%29%5D.avi
https://tezfiles.com/file/6d59685b48ff3/The_Art_of_Tripping_%2823rd_February_1993%29_%281-2%29_%5BVHSRip_%28Xvid%29%5D.avi

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Storm Thorgerson – Drug-Taking and the Arts AKA The Art of Tripping (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Following his pair of despairing urban studies, A Zed and Two Noughts and The Belly of an Architect, director Peter Greenaway turned to the sardonic countryside of The Draughtsman’s Contract for another tongue-in-cheek murder yarn, Drowning by Numbers. Easily his most playful film in every sense of the term, this tricky and often charming film boasts some of his wittiest dialogue and makes for an ideal introduction for newcomers compared to his more experimental works.

One of the most sumptuous English films ever made, Drowning by Numbers revels in sun-dappled fields, moonwashed forests, and rippling bodies of water. All of the performers rattle off their tricky patter perfectly, and Greenaway loads the films with an encyclopedic collection of games, both literal and psychological. The film also features his most audacious and entertaining visual gimmick, outdoing the sequential drawings of Draughtsman or the color-coded rooms of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Here the numbers 1 to 100 are contained within the film, in order, hidden somewhere from the first scene to the last; thus, viewers can either focus on the plot or simply have fun playing numeric hide and seek. This William Castle-style device is also thematically appropriate, drawing the viewer into playing along with the characters and firmly announcing when the game is finally over. The trademark Greenaway nudity is still in abundance, with the shapely Richardson getting most of the attention, but the sexual and violent content is extremely mild (even borderline mainstream) compared to his subsequent work. Sonically this may be his richest film as well thanks to Michael Nyman’s astonishing score, partially derived from Mozart and filled with moments of musical brilliance. A wonderful treasure of a film well worth exploring.

http://nitroflare.com/view/85FFFD0FF7F9D91/Peter_Greenaway_-_%281988%29_Drowning_by_Numbers.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Peter Greenaway – Drowning by Numbers (1988) first appeared on Cinema of the World.