Seven Close Encounters 2016 / O Lucky Man! / United Kingdom 1973
David Ondříček presents
In this second part of Anderson’s sarcastic trilogy bringing a taste of 1960s England, we meet Mick Travis as a company salesman who becomes an incredulous guide through a corrupt society. Malcolm McDowell once again excels in the main role, captured in the lens of Miroslav Ondříček, who also stood behind the camera for the director’s two previous pictures.
“I was absolutely fascinated by this film as a little boy, although I didn’t understand it at all. As an adult I now realise that this masterpiece is disturbingly topical.” – David Ondříček. When Lindsay Anderson first cast Malcolm McDowell in the main role of his sensational and, at the same time, acerbic satire of the British elite education system If…. (1968), the concept of “charismatic actor” wasn’t in common usage at the time, but this description is bang on. In the next part of this loose trilogy McDowell’s Mick Travis is now a company salesman, a “lucky man” who crosses paths with individuals from a broad social spectrum. For the director this is an opportunity for sarcastic tirades in all directions, against all sorts – from politicians supporting military regimes in developing countries, to cosseted gilded youth who rebel against the establishment. The fervour of the social criticism voiced by the erstwhile “angry young men” here encounters Anderson’s sense of the grotesque and his appreciation for subtle hyperbole.
Zdena Škapová
178 min / Color, DCP
Director Lindsay Anderson
/ Screenplay David Sherwin
/ Dir. of Photography Miroslav Ondříček
/ Editor Alan Price
/ Art Director Jocelyn Herbert
/ Producer Lindsay Anderson, Michael Medwin
/ Production Memorial Enterprises, Sam
/ Cast Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren
/ Sales Park Circus Group
Lindsay Anderson (1923–1994) was a leading light of the Free Cinema movement. He began work as a documentary filmmaker which refined his talent as an observer and his sensibility towards social issues. He studied at Oxford University and, in addition to completing such titles as Wakefield Express (1952), O Dreamland (1953) and Thursday’s Children (1954), he cofounded the film magazine Sequence, which played a huge role in shaping the Free Cinema movement. He debuted with This Sporting Life (1963), which in no way indicated that his future directorial and screenwriting efforts would take the form of sarcastic critiques of society, culminating in the trilogy If…. (1968, Palme d’Or at Cannes), O Lucky Man! (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982). Other films include In Celebration (1974), Look Back in Anger (1980), and The Whales of August (1987). Three of his films involved the collaboration of Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček.
Park Circus Group
15 Woodside Crescent, G37UL, Glasgow
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 332 2175
E-mail: [email protected]
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