SummaryOn the outskirts of Birmingham and the margins of society the Billingham family perform extreme rituals and break social taboos as they muddle through a life decided by factors beyond their control. At times shocking and laced with an unsettling humour, three episodes unfold as a powerful evocation of the experience of growing up in a Black Count... Read More
Directed By:Richard Billingham
Written By:Richard Billingham
Ray & Liz
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
81
User score
Generally Favorable
6.5
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
81
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Mar 7, 2019
100
A symphony of cinema, Ray & Liz possesses an undeniable level of artistic expression on memory. Capturing space and time in a manner that only film can create in every single image there is a deep-rooted emotive quality.
Jul 23, 2019
90
What Ray & Liz offers is the opposite of exploitive or vengeful enumeration of parental failure. Billingham finds grace for his ruined family, even if he refuses to save them, and it feels like an act of forgiveness.
Aug 31, 2018
88
Ray & Liz generates pathos through its detailed attention to its characters' attempts to find permanence and meaning in a fundamentally unstable reality.
Mar 13, 2019
80
Artist-turned-filmmaker Richard Billingham soaks his terrific debut in bleak authenticity and some gorgeous cinematography.
Sep 2, 2018
80
One senses that Billingham is not always at ease with the narrative demands of filmmaking. But his startling eye for the common made strange is very visible here, and hard not to hope that he’ll make further forays into filmmaking after this very auspicious debut with a work that feels so close and true to his earlier material.
Jul 9, 2019
70
Performed with absolute commitment by its cast (Justin Salinger and Ella Smith play the younger versions of the title characters), Ray & Liz is a quietly harrowing movie. Billingham risks tedium, though, in withholding anything like an inner life for any of its characters until the movie’s very end.
Oct 18, 2018
60
The whole film is like an incomplete fragment, intriguing if frustrating.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.5
45% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
45% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
9% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Oct 24, 2019
7
I can best describe that this movie is shot like a moving photograph, combined with the tight ratio, it gives a really compressing view on the bleak, saddingely real life this family is leading. Their lack of empathy reflects how society feels about these kind of people, making it even harder for them to ever get out of this vicious cycle. This is their life, that's how it was then, that''s how it is now and that's how it will be. A forever unchanging line that does not waver.
Nov 27, 2021
6
This film depicts a British working class family with poverty, neglect and depravation. Suffice to say, it's not the cheeriest watch. Its quite grim really and frustrating because its clear that certain people are taking advantage of others - there is an element of manipulation. There were some mildly amusing moments, believe it or not, involving the kids, although I did feel sorry for them too, frankly - certainly the younger ones. I suppose its a somewhat thoughtful watch, not one that will suit or appeal to, everyone but I'd say this is an ok watch, which yes, I'd cautiously recommend.
Production Company:
- Jacqui Davies
- Severn Screen
Release Date:Jul 10, 2019
Duration:1 h 48 m
Awards
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
• 3 Wins & 4 Nominations
Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF)
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
British Independent Film Awards
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
