Robinson in Space

This is a lovely film, narrated perfectly by Paul Scofield. Robinson and the narrator take seven tours of the English provinces, emulating Defoe's tours two centuries ago. You never see the travellers but they discover an awful lot about England that you probably never wanted to know - but are never boring. The superbly shot scenes of a changing industrial landscape are largely still - frozen in the 1990s and already remarkably dated, so that the film is already nostalgic, though only seven years old at the time of viewing. The commentary gives a detached perspective on England's industrial decline, as well as the occasional - and odd - glimpse into Robinson's private life and the mysterious company employing them to make these journeys on what might be a weird form of industrial espionage. The overall effect is to provide a strikingly different perspective on landscape, history and those who travel through them - a great success and all too short at 80 minutes.

I disliked this as much as I enjoyed the earlier, London, released in 1994. The reason, I think is that I know more about and care more about London, and much as the first film was almost gleefully depressing in its portrayal of a dead place under the Conservative party, I know the predictions were wrong. The London film remained interesting because of the difference between how it was seen by Keiller 15 years ago and how it is today. Whereas here I am less intimately involved with the various places depicted and Scofield's uninterested and expressionless verbalisation of the drivel of a soundtrack helped not a lot. It is also interesting to note that the general socialist drift of this film has also been shown to be wrong. All those sarcastic remarks about lack of British manufacturing and dark murmurings about the Japanese taking over, all seem irrelevant as an expanded service industry and tourism helped by cheaper imports from China and India, seems to have more than filled the gap.

I didn't watch London, because I lived there for 18 months and hated every minute of that miserable lonely city of dirty air and disappointment. Therefore I wasn't prepared for the slightly off-kilter eccentricity of the script, with the beautiful solemn delivery of Paul Scofield. It's exactly the sort of documentary that reminds me of 1970s BBC, and that's the beauty of it. Whilst delivering much interesting information it has an air of nostalgia that takes us back to the days of brown and orange when Findus Crispy Pancakes were novel cuisine. I think negative reviews are from those who don't understand the tongue-in-cheek nature. If you love BBC4 you'll love this.

As someone who is a fan of world cinema, classics, indie cinema, documentaries and the like, I think I have a pretty high tolerance for directors that think a bit outside of the box. This one is an absolute snooze. Scenes jump every few seconds, but nothing really happens. Once and a while they share an interesting quote from a long-dead author. It never spends enough time delving into one issue, so I would argue that it does not resemble a good video essay as others have argued.

Although a very different director, Godard has been criticized for being slow, boring, and frustrating--but Keiller takes the cake--he's slow and boring without offering any reward. Dreary just like the weather.

Robinson in Space is a contemporary interpretation of the wanderings of Daniel Defoe around Britain. Robinson and his Companion travel around to places of industrial note, both past and present. In this sense it is travelogue, but it is so much more.

The Commentary notes major developments in the country, and makes dry comment on the state of the nation and its Industry. This film visits both the empty Warehouses of Manchester and the New factories of the Midlands. It can almost be regarded as an essay on Britain in the mid 1990's.

Many have described this film as egocentric and boring, and I can see why. It is shot almost entirely as stills, there is no acting, and there are no characters beyond the commentary. However to me this was a refreshing piece of film making. It was incredibly well observed, and comes pretty close to defining what it is to live in this country. I suspect, however, that for anyone who lives outside the UK this will just be boring, you have to be able to relate to the places on the screen.

However, if this appeals even slightly take the opportunity to see this film, before its forgotten. I loved it, and I will never forget it.