I Think They Call Him John

A scathing indictment of how we let our elderly get lonely. Shot in beautifully poised black and white, this short slowly shows us a day in the life of this older, lonely man, whose been alone since his wife died 9 years earlier. Hard to find online, but the BFI DVD might be totally worth it, if the rest of the films on there are as great as this one. Very moving.

The film takes you through an average day of a widower called John who lives in a large block of flats in London (presumably). You see him eating his breakfast, having a rather meager lunch consisting of two sausages, writing a letter, setting up an ironing board sweeping the floor and watching television. The person is clearly old and finding things difficult but he seemed to be totally cut off from life, which could only be by choice.

Why is this interesting? Why did somebody make a film of his day? Was it to show that some people live alone? Maybe this was unusual in 1964 but not so much today. I can't see that there was any sort of scandalous behaviour. Maybe he didn't like company?

This film was tedious in the extreme - I hoped for some excitement but it was not forthcoming. Avoid at all costs!