This Absolute Classic Will Break Your Little Heart — And You’ll Love Every Moment of It
The Long Day Closes is an expression of conflicted feelings of childhood and nostalgia, while romanticizing the medium of film with caution.
Filmmakers reflecting on their own childhood and early days of falling in love with cinema has been one of the more unexpected trends of the last handful of years. This spiritual subgenre includes the likes of Roma, Belfast, The Fabelmans, and Armageddon Time, and seems to have sprouted from our modern inclination to reflect on ourselves and our past in a social media climate. Additionally, the pandemic and early days of quarantine confined us—ultimately forcing everyone to ruminate deeply about their existence. These coming-of-age stories whose main thesis is to celebrate the magic of movies can be hokey, and we're trained to groan when we hear that another filmmaker wants to open up about their youth. All these films are implicitly indebted to The Long Day Closes—the masterwork by one of Great Britain's finest directors, Terence Davies. Amid societal oppression, Davies turned to movies for escapism as a child, but his memories are not purely saccharine.
