Love is All

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Love is All

#1 Post by antnield » Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:00 pm

LOVE IS ALL (DVD)
A film by Kim Longinotto

A hundred years of love and courtship on the silver screen, with music created by Sheffield celebrated singer-songwriter-producer Richard Hawley

Love is All takes us on an exquisite journey through the twentieth century, exploring love and courtship in all of its shapes and sizes on the silver screen across decades of unprecedented social upheaval. From the first kisses caught on film, through the disruptions of war and on the birth of youth culture, free love and gay liberation we follow courting couples as they flirt at tea dances, kiss in the back row, shack up together and fight for their right to love whoever they choose.

This celluloid love letter is detected by Kim Longinotto (Divorce Iranian Style) and edited by Ollie Huddleston (From the Sea to the Land Beyond) using a selection of spellbinding footage from British archives, including the BFI National Archive and the Yorkshire Film Archive, all set to a stunning Richard Hawley soundtrack.

Special features

- Archive short films
- Booklet with film notes and complete credits
- Other extras TBC
February 16th, 2015

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Love is All

#2 Post by zedz » Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:36 pm

A new Longinotto film is always cause for celebration, and most of these archival commissions from the BFI have been terrific, so I'm very excited for this.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Love is All

#3 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:45 pm

I had previously put this comment in the "Upcoming Movies on TV" thread, but just noticed the dedicated thread for the film, so if it is OK I'm going to copy it across here too for completeness!:
Dr Amicus on 18th February wrote:And Kim Longinotto's Love is All is on BBC4 on Sunday 22nd February at 9pm - 9 days after it's theatrical release.
This was really great, although if being slightly uncharitable to it the film could be seen to play as a giant promotional project for various of the BFI's DVD projects over the years! But it is much more than that, in that it explores all forms of love and romance in the UK over the last hundred years of film, with an emphasis on social revolutions and upheavals.

This is done through lots of different kinds of footage, from decrepit and partially-destroyed Decasia-style material (for the ruder stag reel-stuff!) through documentary footage to sex hygiene educational films through to features themselves, occasionally interspersed with home movie footage. And while some footage is from silent films, all have had their soundtracks removed (though occasionally the original sound pokes through in the form of character's dialogue or voiceovers!) and replaced with a excellent soundtrack of songs that provide the emotional through-line to the footage. In a way, although this film is also taking footage from elsewhere and putting a new soundtrack over it, I think something like Love Is All is a much more valuable and ambitious project than say the BBC's recent re-scoring of Drive. Instead of just changing one aspect, such as the soundtrack, instead Love Is All is taking existing footage, cutting it up and re-presenting it in a new form to tell its own narrative. A narrative that might not really have been intended from the original material (especially in the rather moralising sex ed films!), but one which has teased out similar key details about tolerance and celebration of love in all its forms.

I'll reproduce my notes from watching below, which might better illustrate how the film is edited. I did not recognise all of the footage but I'll mention the clips that I could place as we go along:

We start with courtship and seduction section of romance, starting with kissing sequences from early silents. Then there come snippets from The Mystery of Marriage that was on the BFI's The Joy of Sex Education (now called The Birds and The Bees) set: the scene of the guy and girl in the country talking about getting married intercut with the birds twittering away in the branches.

Then, as a grungy rock riff kicks in, we get into the raunchy sex section of the film. Its not that explicit, more rolling in the hay stuff but the degraded, roughed up quality of the film footage here is quite sad in its own way for suggesting a whole aspect of human behaviour that is denegrated, hidden away or forgotten until it barely exists on film anymore.

Following on from that we get to the fantastic paen to Anna May Wong, with an entire section of the film (and song with the wonderful lyric "There's a storm coming") dedicated to the actress and her role in the silent film Piccadilly. The précis of the film we get here reminded me of how great it was, and coming off of the quality of the previous footage, this looks stunning. I can only hope this is upcoming for a Blu-ray upgrade.

That is an example of love going wrong, and the first hint of interracial love that will be a key theme of the film. We go back to the courtship and seduction material now, with footage of disapproving relatives and more relationships where class divisions force love apart. (The great short A Test For Love gets re-told in this section).

Then marriage footage, segueing into love in the Second World War. Then post-war, when race starts to come to the fore, both immigration and mixed race relationships (cue more footage of disappointed relatives and landladies!). Then post the miscegenation revolution the film brings up homosexuality using footage from the short film Dream A40 (brought out by the BFI on its Encounters set), and makes great use of the moment from that film in which one character uncomfortable with obvious displays of intimacy with his boyfriend in a cafe looks across at a mixed race heterosexual couple with a mixture of annoyance and jealousy at their casual intimacy, as if they've now been accepted whilst his love remains in some senses 'forbidden'.

Now comes a section showing children and working class tenement life of the 1950s and 1960s, a world soon to be demolished for the concrete tower blocks that the film will deal with later on. For now though there's dancing with the footage mostly 50s beatniks, though then we get clips of 70s punks in colour footage...and black guys in the 80s breakdancing...and Cruising-style gay clubbers...and finally back to the 60s with long haired hippie-types. All this energy seems to be about showing off to impress your object of affection, something which gets amusingly literalised at the end of this section as the film speeds through 'ave You Got A Male Assistant Please, Miss? in double speed until finally slow motioning through the last couple of shots of the beckoning girl and the chap brandishing a condom throwing himself back into bed!

Now we're into the world of work with footage from Growing Up (the section with the voiceover matter of factly stating that "Men are better at giving birth to thoughts and ideas. They are, in fact, usually more inventive and creative" as a man directs his secretary to do his bidding in an office and we see a chap driving a digger), but then immediately move into Don't Be Like Brenda showing another messed up relationship (I'm glad the film kept the waiting for the phone call montage sequence and the fur-coated mother being rude to Brenda over the telephone!). The song playing over the footage did show that you don't really need a moralising voiceover when the right soundtrack and images can combine to convey the same message!

Back to love across the racial divide, as the film also moves into feature films by replaying scenes from My Beautiful Laundrette (the imagery from the final scene of the sex scene taking place at the same time as the other couple are dancing in the next room fits beautifully into the thesis of this film).

Then into Brick Lane, which also works as a perfect encapsulation of the themes from earlier - we're now inside a flat inside one of those concrete apartment blocks (the lyrics of the song saying "open up the door" suddenly resonate even more) and can see the way that attraction can blossom even there. That even when being repressed it is still expressing itself. The way that Love Is All tackles the footage from Brick Lane makes it seem like a Wong Kar-Wai film, full of stock footage intercut with modern life and themes of requited and unrequited love and issues of feeling a betrayal by acknowledging your feelings.

Then as a coda we get footage of mixed race marriages moving into the first images of gay marriages.

Its a beautiful film, but I really hope that along with seeing this film that it also inspires people to check out those BFI DVDs. I myself haven't properly looked into the BFI's British Transport Films releases yet, but can only assume that all of the 'James Joyce in Dubliner's-style' phallic images of trains steaming into and out of tunnels at key moments of the film must be the filmmakers way of saying that people should pick up the BFI releases of those too! :wink:

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Dr Amicus
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:20 am
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Re: Love is All

#4 Post by Dr Amicus » Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:59 pm

I loved it too - I've been meaning to do a write up, but still...

My one issue with it, one I didn't find with Penny Woolcock's From The Sea To The Land Beyond, was that as it was about the change in depictions of love and relationships over the years I felt the absence of identification details more keenly. Admittedly, I recognised quite a bit of the footage and could make an educated guess for much of the rest - Mrs Amicus however really wanted years and titles! - but it felt like more of an argument than the more impressionistic Woolcock and thus the absence of information to accurately place the historial context of the clips was more noticeable.

Incidentally, I did find a complete list (in order) of the film clips on Dogwoof's website!

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Love is All

#5 Post by zedz » Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:52 pm

Dr Amicus wrote:I loved it too - I've been meaning to do a write up, but still...

My one issue with it, one I didn't find with Penny Woolcock's From The Sea To The Land Beyond, was that as it was about the change in depictions of love and relationships over the years I felt the absence of identification details more keenly. Admittedly, I recognised quite a bit of the footage and could make an educated guess for much of the rest - Mrs Amicus however really wanted years and titles! - but it felt like more of an argument than the more impressionistic Woolcock and thus the absence of information to accurately place the historial context of the clips was more noticeable.

Incidentally, I did find a complete list (in order) of the film clips on Dogwoof's website!
In these kind of films an optional subtitle track with that information would be extremely valuable (and presumably not that much of a hassle to arrange, since they already have a list of the sources).

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Re: Love is All

#6 Post by antnield » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:08 pm

zedz wrote:In these kind of films an optional subtitle track with that information would be extremely valuable (and presumably not that much of a hassle to arrange, since they already have a list of the sources).
The BFI DVD of From the Sea to the Land Beyond contains such a track - it not only identifies the clip but also where it was filmed.

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Re: Love is All

#7 Post by antnield » Thu Sep 17, 2015 7:56 am

Full specs announced:
Love is All celebrates a hundred years of love and courtship on the silver screen. This entrancing film from the acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto, with music by the much praised singer-songwriter and producer Richard Hawley, will be released on DVD by the BFI on 19 October 2015 as part of the BFI’s blockbuster season, BFI LOVE in partnership with Plusnet.

Love is All takes us on an exquisite journey through the twentieth century, exploring love and courtship in all of its shapes and sizes across decades of unprecedented social upheaval. From the first kisses caught on film, through the disruptions of war and the birth of youth culture, free love and gay liberation, we follow courting couples as they flirt at tea dances, kiss in the back row, shack up together and fight for their right to love whomever they choose.

This celluloid love letter is directed by Kim Longinotto (Divorce Iranian Style) and edited by Ollie Huddleston (From the Sea to the Land Beyond) using a selection of spellbinding footage from the BFI National Archive and the Yorkshire Film Archive, all set to Richard Hawley’s stunning soundtrack.

Special features

- Kim Longinotto Q&A (2015, 23 mins): the director in conversation with Duncan Grindall
- The Kiss in the Tunnel (G.A. Smith, 1899, 1 min): a moment of passion between two passengers
- The Kiss in the Tunnel (Riley Brothers, Bamforth and Company, 1899, 1 min): the same year’s remake
- Quite Unfit for Females (Topical Budget, 1921, 1 min): reporting the FA’s ban on women playing football
- Marriage of Miss Rose Carmel and Mr. Solly Gershcowit (1925, 3 mins): capturing an East End wedding
- Hints and Hobbies No.11 (The Pioneer Film Agency Ltd, 1926, 14 mins): handy tips and advice for ladies
- Some Skating Styles (Topical Budget, 1930, 1 mins): footage of competitive and exhibition skating
- Fully illustrated booklet with director and composer statements, new essays and full film credits

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