Ray & Liz [2018]

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm sure there was a thread about this at the time but I can't find it to link to. Anyhow creating this one to say it's on All4 at the moment. I watched it in the cinema at the time and really enjoyed it. It's quite grim and I think at the time opinion was divided and one or two people thought it was a bit 'poverty porn'. I'm not sure it was given it was effectively a true story and a film imagining of Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh, which I ended up buying off the back of the film.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/ray-liz

[dissolute ocelot]

It is grim, but it's also brilliantly made, and so attentive to the minor details of its characters' lives. Calling it poverty porn is ridiculous; it's the opposite of sensationalistic, and would it be better to only make films about well-to-do people in nice houses? And Ella Smith in particular is brilliant.

Did you buy the book? Last I saw it was long out of print and there were copies going for £200+, and while I like art and photography books I have to draw a line somewhere.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I did buy the book. Most of the ones on sale were around that much but I got it for significantly less than that. It wasn't what I'd consider cheap but a mixture of the film gnawing at me and I guess feeling a little flush on payday meant I treated myself. No regrets and I got a nice handwritten note from the small book seller who sold it me. No regrets!