The Long Day Closes

Dir. Terence Davies. 1992, 85 mins. 35mm. With Marjorie Yates, Leigh McCormack. Davies described this radiant finale to his cycle of autobiographical childhood films as “the story of a paradise that’s already being lost and will only survive as a memory.” Suffused with both enchantment and melancholy, The Long Day Closes takes the perspective of a quiet, lonely boy growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s. After the death of his brutal father, eleven-year-old Bud enjoys long summer days with his family and countless trips to the cinema. Rather than employ a straightforward narrative, Davies jumps in and out of time, swoops into fantasies and fears, summons memories and dreams. A singular filmic tapestry, The Long Day Closes is an evocative movie- and music-besotted portrait of the artist as a young man. The conversation will be moderated by Michael Koresky, author of Terence Davies (2014, University of Illinois Press).