Terence Davies is one of contemporary cinema's true visual poets, and his work is collected here for the first time in one BFI DVD set, with a host of amazing features that cinephiles - and film students - will treasure.
In The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976-1983), three semi-autobiographical short films follow the filmmakers' alter-ego, Robert Tucker, from cradle to grave in a moving poem about regret and loss.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) is a beautiful, yet melancholy, tableaux of a working-class family set in postwar Liverpool. Pete Postlethwaite stars as the head of the family at war with itself.
In The Long Day Closes (1992), Davies' dreamlike montage tells the story of young Bud, whose happy everyday existence is suddenly shattered by the harsh and often inhuman teachings of Catholicism.
Finally, in Of Time and the City (2008), Davies reaches the zenith of his career. Through the use of archival footage, the artist whips up an evocative cinematic tapestry of life in postwar Liverpool.
The special features on the BFI DVD box set really are worth the trouble to wade through; they include director commentaries, making of features, and the 1942 wartime documentary, Listen to Britain.
Released 16 November
