Ray & Liz
Year: 2018
Country:
UNITED KINGDOM
Language:
English
Run Time:
107 minutes
In 1996 acclaimed British photographer Richard Billingham published a photobook spotlighting his parents, Ray and Liz, whose crippling depression and addictions made for a bleak childhood. Now Billingham has adapted their story to a narrative film, told in three parts. In part one, we see Ray and Liz in the present. They’re separated and Ray’s alcoholism has become unmanageable. The other parts are flashbacks to cataclysmic moments in their past. Poor parenting skills are on display when Liz goes shopping, leaving Richard’s little brother alone with his unstable uncle. The scene ends with the toddler holding a knife, while his drunk uncle lays in a pool of vomit. There’s dark humor in how it happened, but the dysfunction is jarring. In the last piece, the boys are a little older, fending for themselves as their parents sleep excessively. When the neglect is discovered by outsiders, the consequences are severe. Billingham’s film memoir is dark and disturbing but encouraging in how he uses art to work through the trauma. RAY & LIZ explores how depression, and the vices that numb it, can tear a family apart yet create the emotional strength to overcome it. —E.F.
CIFF43 Screenings
Monday, April 01, 2019 at 9:00 PM
Thursday, April 04, 2019 at 1:55 PM
Competition
New Direction Competition
Director
Richard Billingham
Producer
Jacqui Davies
Screenwriting
Richard Billingham
Cinematography
Daniel Landin
Editing
Tracy Granger
Principal Cast
Ella Smith, Justin Salinger, Patrick Romer, Deirdre Kelly, Tony Way
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