The Long Day Closes

United Kingdom, 1992

Drama, Biography

Synopsis

The Long Day Closes is the story of a sad and lonely boy, Bud. With cinema as his main source of solace, he haunts the local movie-house. From a gray background, the film fuses clips and audio from classic movies into Bud’s dreary childhood and brings it to life.

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The Long Day Closes Directed by Terence Davies

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Awards & Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

1992

Toronto International Film Festival

1992

International Film Festival Rotterdam

1993

Stockholm International Film Festival

1992

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Cast & Crew

Articles from the Notebook

The Camera Moves #8

In a combination of camera movement and cross-fades, "The Long Day Closes" shows a child's journey from school to church to cinema.

Memory as Mise-en-scène: A Conversation with Terence Davies

An interview with the English auteur on his new film—his first fictional feature in eleven years—"The Deep Blue Sea".

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What are people saying?

Sean Patrick Stevens's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Sean Patrick Stevens

Rewarding if you're in the mood for impressionistic contemplative meditation on childhood. However it's also got an obtuse vibe since it's highly personal maybe best for Sunday viewing when you're by yourself?!
March 13, 2016 16:31
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Andrei Rus's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Andrei Rus

The tone of this film reminded me a lot of my own childhood moods. I think that for me only Victor Erice's "El espiritu de la colmena" and "El sur" would be comparable in that aspect. I just discovered a few days ago how great Terence Davies' films are, and since then I can't believe I haven't got to see them earlier. Anyway, they gave me shivers of pleasure in the past hours.
January 05, 2013 15:51
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Danny Kana's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Danny Kana

A beautiful film, but I wasn't as connected to Bud and the story as I wish I could of been. The rapid dissolves and use of sound are brilliant in the beginning, but as the film grew on, I became tired of them.
April 28, 2011 00:51
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House 0f Leaves's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
House 0f Leaves

"With a gray background, the film fuses clips and audio from classic movies into Bud’s dreary childhood and brings it to life with an elegance Bach would bring to your home movies." Love love love. Cinema!
April 01, 2011 05:01
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Lynch/Fellini's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Lynch/Fellini

Terence Davies' wonderful film is a series of fragmented, perhaps partially lost, series of memories that reject the notion of story in the best way possible.
May 27, 2018 03:52
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Joseph Carthey's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Joseph Carthey

Astonishingly crafted, "Long Day Closes" is the British younger brother to "Tea and Sympathy". Davies does not just capture loneliness, but everything it means to feel different from other boys in a society that imprisons young men with insufferable expectation. Bud escapes into cinematic fantasy, framed in intimately wistful memory of Liverpool streets, in which he may as well be alone. Understood every feeling.
September 16, 2018 21:11
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João Portalegre's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
João Portalegre

it's way too personal and deals with a childhood very different from mine, mainly because of the time period it takes place in, yet it's something I'd love to have made. it's also got one of the best tracking shots I've ever seen, as simple as it is.
May 02, 2017 12:03
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Dan's rating of the film The Long Day Closes
Dan

It's difficult to admit not enjoying a film so fantastically crafted and in love with cinema as Davies' film is. Although it's as gorgeous and intense as a nostalgia can be, it might just be how personal and specific these memories are that prevented me from connecting with any of it.
June 09, 2015 16:15
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