Bill Douglas was born in 1934, in the Depression-hit mining village of Newcraighall outside Edinburgh. His early years were marked by hardship and poverty, later reflected in his films My Childhood and My Ain Folk. A temporary escape from this background came via the ‘other world’ found in the local cinema – he would collect and return used jam-jars to afford the price of admission. As he wrote in his 1978 essay ‘Palace of Dreams: The Making of a Film-Maker’:
“I hated reality. Of course I had to go to school – sometimes. And I had to go home and apply myself to the things one has to do. But the next picture, how to get in, was the thing that occupied my mind.”
Bill did National Service in the Royal Air Force, stationed in Egypt, where he met his lifelong friend Peter Jewell. After returning to Britain they kept in contact and shared a flat after Bill moved to London, where in the late 1950s he managed to break into acting with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop company… read more
no, i am not a fan of ingmar bergman. but if he made films like this i would be.
This film is unbearably bleak at times, yet so achingly beautiful. There is much plot, but rather impressionistic snippets of a childhood scarred by war, poverty, and death. You can feel the coal and soot, so atmospheric Douglas' direction is. I can't undervalue the strength of his images enough. Also Douglas' minimalism doesn't feel forced, but rather natural which is why this film works so well. Stark but amazing.
Of course, this was a little on the short side. While being interesting, I couldn't help but want the movie to explain the characters more and delve a little deeper. However, Bill Douglas seems talented and I'd like to explore his other films.
Julien Duvivier's films, currently being retrospected at New York's Museum of Modern Art, form such a rich, neglected body of work, that seeing
I first noticed the remarkable shots upon viewing Bill Douglas’ “My Childhood”.
The film follows Jamie, a poor young boy being raised by his paternal grandmother, and living with his half brother… read review