Liam

United Kingdom, Germany, France

2000

90 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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EXEC Sally Hibbin, Tessa Ross, David M. Thompson

PROD Colin McKeown, Martin Tempia

CAST Ian Hart, Claire Hackett, Anthony Borrows, David Hart, Megan Burns, Anne Reid

MUSIC John Murphy

Venice (Competition): OCIC Award, Marcello Mastroianni Award, Toronto (Special Presentations), London (New British Cinema)

Synopsis

Liam a is a vivid and moving depiction of a family’s struggle to weather the ravages of depression era Liverpool from two of Britain’s foremost creative talents, director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons_) and writer Jimmy McGovern (_Cracker, Hillsborough).

The story is told through the eyes of Liam, the youngest child of a close-knit Catholic family.
Money is tight, but his family is a happy one; his mother is caring and devout and his father (Ian Hart) is a responsible and proud working man.

But when hard times hit the Liverpool docks, Liam’s father loses his job and, helpless and embittered, he embarks on a desperate course of action that will change Liam’s world forever.

Director

Stephen Frears

Frears was born in Leicester, England to an Anglican father and a Jewish mother. Attended the Trinity College in Cambridge before starting his carreer in television where he contributed to several high-profile series such as the BBC’s Play for Today. In the mid-1980s he came to prominence as an important director of British and later American films. It was his production of the one-off drama My Beautiful Laundrette for Channel 4 in 1985 that led to his notice as a capable film director when the production was released theatrically to great acclaim. He next directed another successful British film, the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears in 1987, followed by a second film from a Hanif Kureshi screen play, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. The following year he made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons. Frears had another critical success with The Grifters, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director but suffered a major box office disappointment with Hero, starring… read more