Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Sunday June 23th 2013, Movie night. Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema by Jeffrey Babcock. Door open at 20pm, film begin at 21:00

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, UK, 1962, 104 min.) In English with English subtitles!

Directed by Tony Richardson and based on a short story by Alan Sillitoe, this drama movie was the epitome of the “angry young man’ films that came out of England in the 60s. It centers on Colin, a rebellious youth who is sentenced to a boy’s reformatory for robbing a bakery. While there he throws himself into becoming a marathon runner and trains himself to become the very best. While running he can forget, at least for a short while, the prison-like conditions that he’s living in. The wonderfully poetic/edgy atmosphere that is created in this movie, the riveting black and white cinematography, and the uncompromising theme of youth rebellion means that this film will never become obsolete…. it still remains as relevant and fresh today as when it was made. You will never see a film with this amount of guts and integrity anywhere today, pure and simple.

This movie is still considered to be one of the key works of British
cinema. Its a film that takes place amongst the working classes, but which in essence is about wanting to smash any all-powerful system which refuses to change. In other words, this film is actually about the struggle that’s going on right now in the streets of Greece and Spain. With its stark beauty and raw power its one of those few films that has the power to transform a person’s soul. Starring Tom Courtney, Michael Redgrave and James Fox. And, hey, its also the favorite film of singer John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols). Especially given the terrible selection
of whats on offer at the big cinemas downtown these days, we will be far wiser to go back and see this revered gem from the past.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, warm and cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net