Liverpool Story
Daniel Draper’s second documentary about Liverpool looks great but has little new to say.
Image courtesy of Shut Out The Light.
In one respect this film is something of a triumph for its writer/director Daniel Draper. In this, his fifth documentary, he continues to retain his collaboration with Christie Allanson who has edited and co-produced all of his films but has himself taken on the role of chief photographer and it is the quality of the images which is the best thing about Liverpool Story. Draper resides there and this is his second film about the city following on from his 2021 movie about the Toxteth area, Almost Liverpool 8. That his heart lies in Liverpool is surely the case yet ironically my favourite film of his was shot elsewhere, that being his piece about the Durham Miners’ Gala and its history entitled The Big Business (2019). His work outside Liverpool is, however, hardly less personal since socialism is central to it and clearly a major concern of his.
When it comes to Liverpool Story, however, I am somewhat nonplussed as to what Draper thought that he was achieving. The title leads one to expect a documentary that will relate something of the city’s history and indeed the film opens as though looking back to how the city arose from its setting. But the effect is slow and pretentious as it quotes Thoreau and finds visuals to echo his remark about time being akin to a stream having a sandy bottom and developing from there even if the result is shallow. Draper’s earlier Liverpool film eschewed any spoken commentary and so too does this one but this time what eventually emerges is an impressionistic portrait of life there in 2023 offered in a film lasting over two hours.
Watching Liverpool Story I was reminded of how from time to time one comes across exhibitions of works of photography comprising a selection of images that seek to catch the essence of a place through images that capture a particular atmosphere or pick out quirky but meaningful details. Walk around such an exhibition and one can pause and consider at leisure what each picture is expressing. That can be an effective experience, but film moves at the filmmaker’s pace and Liverpool Story rarely lingers on its images for any length of time. One may admire a particular composition but in no time at all other shots follow so that, for example, a glimpse of the Eurovision contest song contest quickly turns into pictures of dogs and then into footage about Everton football club. The latter is at least a noted Liverpool feature, but much of the material found here could be in any British urban setting. This applies when it comes to sport where alongside the football moment we get scenes elsewhere that involve cricket, boxing and snooker.
Other forms of city culture on display include bookshops, pubs and art galleries and there are stop offs at a bakery, a shoe shop, a tailor’s and a park or two. It is the case that some of the shots are accompanied by comments from local residents, but for the most part these come in the form of voice-overs and most of them are comparatively brief. Draper’s Toxteth film stressed ethnic diversity positively and that is most certainly present here too even if shots of street protests include one in which the slogans on display are about stopping the boats. More positively we see Liverpool enjoying outdoor celebrations of various kinds but once again the inclusion of the likes of a Pride march is in no way particular to this city - and nor is a recent demonstration demanding Freedom for Palestine.
Admittedly we do see indications of a changing city, new buildings going up and many old ones now looking derelict and a few details do relate to nowhere else. The songs of the Beatles are still to be heard at the Cavern in a German Sommerfest beer festival and there is a scene on a ferry crossing the Mersey. But, if catching sight of the name of Knotty Ash brings to mind the great Ken Dodd, he is not actually mentioned. As in that instance material is all too often skated over without enough detail being added to give it real weight (longer personal anecdotes from those heard on the soundtrack might have helped). But there is another drawback too in that there is far too little sense of the material being shaped meaningfully. Indeed, by the time that we are into the last half hour much of the footage echoes what we have seen earlier. Homelessness does come up late on for the first time, but again only in passing and sadly it’s once more an issue all too familiar around the country.
So much effort has been put into making this film that I can but hope that other viewers will gain more from it than I did. Although in its closing moments the film keeps to its chosen style by jumping all over the place (it leads up to Christmas and New Year by way of material concerning such matters as cemetery memorials and maggots), I do like the short mood piece at the very end with the moon seen in a night sky as ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is heard on the piano. And as indicated earlier the visual quality of the film is high and that’s something that certainly can’t be taken for granted.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring the voices of Amina Atiq, Sam Batley, Dan Chan, Mick Colligan, Naomi Ditchfield, John Gahan, Jane MacNeil, Dave Nicholas, Ilaria Premici, Rita Smith, Elke Weissmann, Yusuf Yassin, Ali Zeinali.
Dir Daniel Draper, Pro Christie Allanson and David Draper, Screenplay Daniel Draper, Ph Daniel Draper, Ed Christie Allanson, Music Likvaka.
Shut Out The Light Films-Shut Out The Light.
125 mins. UK. 2024. UK Rel: 21 November 2024. Cert. 15.
