Shooting the Past

This production is a work of profound beauty and intelligence. The dynamics of this film take you on a wonderful journey from the edge of your seat to the back of your mind. The actors fully inhabit their roles with all the humour and tragedy that involves, as the story unfolds. The success of the actors was to convey so much with such minimal, yet superb, dialogue.

The action unfolds in the almost wordless present (more usually suited to "action genre"), yet the film's major theme can only be resolved by the characters understanding of a broader present context that reaches back to the past and forward to their future. The characters dilemma is specific to the plot yet generalises to us all.

The subtlety and scope of this production grows with each viewing, as does the admiration for the casting, acting, directing, editing and musical scoring. If any of the components were less than exceptional, then it wouldn't be THIS film. If your looking for a film with timeless grace and immediate relevance, this will always be it.

....I cannot think of any other films quite like it, and think it draws more from theater, classical painting, photography, and great literature. However I would liken it most to a very visual feature length piece of music with superb production value - perhaps Roger Waters's "Amused to Death".

This movie crept up on me. Timothy Spall is simply riveting and slowly charms you into his viewpoint. He seems at first to be a shabby cynic, but as time goes on you see that he is also a nerdy genius. Though slow at first, it is an example of very good story-telling and ends up making you feel very good about mankind and really aware of how diverse are the circumstances of life and the souls who step up to the challenges they present. The title has two meanings in that we are dealing with photos collected and arranged in categories that only Spall's character can really navigate expertly. Also, we find, in following his character (Oswald Bates) through the archive -- intent on following a thread -- that we are traveling in a viscous medium and find ourselves shooting the rapids of accumulating facts, inferences and dates.

The atmosphere created in Shooting the Past is so compelling that it draws the viewer into its improbable world, and we accept that it could happen. The music is hypnotic, the photographs are fascinating, but most of all, the performances are wonderful. Lindsay Duncan is passionate and controlled at the same time - her dedication to her job is absolute. The sexual tension between her character and Liam Cunningham's is another factor that made it impossible to stop watching. All the English characters seem eccentric in some way, as you might expect from people who work in a photo library, but they are all 3-dimensional and I felt that I knew them by the end. As usual, Poliakoff has created a fantasy world which seems like the real world, but unexpected things happen and it's difficult to predict what the outcome will be. It gives us hope that we can do unexpected things ourselves. It is a drama of astonishing depth and must be seen - preferably several times.

Splendid movie with great acting by everyone. But particularly of interest and delight for anyone who enjoys life without computers, old houses, archives, photography and loves truthfulness. I'll never forget the archive in the basement of the house. Because of the movie, I found the Mary Evans Picture Library in London.

Seeing this movie, my first Poliakoff, led me to all his other gems. I don't know why he is not more famous. And he sure has a gift for choosing the best actor talents.

This movie should be part of your movie library! And while you are buying, get "Perfect Strangers" too.

Poliakoff's greatest achievement (so far) works perfectly as a thought-provoking and intensely satisfying meditation on the price of progress. The hard-headed, unscrupulous world of big-business is set in stark contrast to the quintessentially English, eccentric and old-fashioned central characters battling against the odds to preserve the collection. With sublime casting, atmospheric use of lighting and a haunting, beautiful soundtrack the production values are magnificent. However, the real stars of the show are the photos from the collection itself - used to relay fascinating, quirky and heart-rending stories from history that would have otherwise been forgotten. The way these stories unfurl are spell-bindingly atmospheric and paced to perfection.