On the outskirts of Birmingham and the margins of society the Billingham family perform extreme rituals and break social taboos as they muddle through a life decided by factors beyond their control. At times shocking and laced with an unsettling humor, three episodes unfold as a powerful evocation of the experience of growing up in a Black Country council flat.
Director: Richard Billingham
Writers: Richard Billingham
OVID
Eternal FamilyIt may be dour, but the film is also vital, edgy and progressive. It also must be noted that it’s very funny at times, in a brutal human comedy sort of way ('Good Thing' by Fine Young Cannibals plays over the end credits). To be put off by the uncomfortable themes, unglamorous ur…
I think part of my problem with this is that having grown up in a room and kitchen in a 1970s Glasgow tenement where we bathed in the sink, once a week, in water freshly boiled from the kettle atop the metred gas stove, I find these “northern” (English) tales of woe and misfortun…
