THE NEON BIBLE
UK, 1994, 95 minutes, Colour.
Gena Rowlands, Jacob Tierney, Diana Scarwid, Dennis Leary.
Directed by Terence Davies.
I liked this film very much but was not surprised that a number of friends were not enthusiastic. It very much depends on mood and response to the style of film-making. It is a short story about a young boy in late 30s and 40s Georgia, it has been written and directed by Englishman, Terence Davies. Davies is well-known to film buffs. His Distant Voices, Still Lives is an extraordinary evocation of Liverpool in the war years, ordinary families, a violent father and a long-suffering mother. Davies paints cinema portraits, often delaying on close-ups, or on the backgrounds which he relies on to communicate the mood and atmosphere of the action. He also made the memoir, The Long Day Closes, in the same style. And he simply transfers this style to Georgia, an Englishman’s interpretation of the American south. He is well served by his cast led by the excellent Gena Rowlands and by his customary use of music and contemporary popular songs. Many will find it excruciatingly slow. I found it just right.
Stylish memoir.
1. A piece of Americana? The 1940s, the south? From an American novel? Screenplay and direction by an Englishman?
2. The atmosphere of the south in the 1940s, Georgia, the small towns, the shops, the houses? The religious meetings? The Ku Klux Klan? The range of songs, religious, popular?
3. The atmosphere of Georgia at the time, poor people, religious people, sanity and madness, the war and its effect, race issues, health, mental health? Violence? A glimpse at the innocent yet underside of America?
4. Terence Davies' visual style, the long tracking shots from right to left, not focusing on characters but on environment, buildings? The many focuses on doors and door frames, the long tracking shots towards the doors? The close-ups? The tableaux? The music accompanying these sequences? The sound and dialogue and music anticipating the next scene? The overall aesthetic effect of this kind of film-making?
5. The narrative, the glimpses of characters, the glimpses of sequences, the way they were edited together? The omissions of drama and the audience supplying them?
6. The focus on David, teenager, riding in the train? The characters he met on the train? His indeterminate destination? The range of flashbacks from the train, David as a young boy, the family, Aunt Mae, life in the town, the war, the religious atmosphere, his father not returning his mother's growing madness, Aunt Mae and her friendship, the opportunities? His work, his mother's death, the violence against the minister? The romance with the young girl? His leaving town?
7. The film as a portrait of David, a boy of his environment, the lonely and only child, his father's taunting him, his father's get-rich schemes, planting the vegetables? His relationship with his mother, tenderness, her loose grip on reality, enthusiasms, angers and tantrums? Aunt Mae in the household, his true friend, discussions, the music, singing and dancing? Going to the religious revivals? The Ku Klux Klan meeting? His devotion to his father, going to the war, the sadness of the coffin's returning, the letter from Italy? His mother's decline and madness, his success at school, graduation, his having to go to work, in the shop? The kindly shopkeeper? The young girl, her request, advice from Aunt Mae, taking her out, going to see Mildred Pierce, the discussions about the film? Her breaking off with him, his mother being mad? Aunt Mae and her departure, the wise words from her, his trust in her, looking after his mother? The sadness of her death, taking the gun to the reverend and shooting him?
8. The character of Aunt Mae, the outsider, her career in the southern states, her own estimate of her singing, her success, the reviews? Sarah and her reaction against Aunt Mae, the outbursts? Mae listening in to Sarah and her husband discussing her, their compassion, the poor relation? Her being in the house, friendly with David? The reaction of the townspeople? The singing, her success at singing "Perfidia" and "True Romance"? Clyde and the attraction, her dating him? The years passing, the war, looking after Sarah, seeing David grow up, encouraging him at studies, work, the young girl? Clyde and the opportunity to go to Nashville, radio and records? Her going to the bus, the farewell to David? Gena Rowlands' portrait of a woman of the south, indeterminate age, her loss of opportunities, her success, her love of singing and dancing, her dresses, the high life? Her not fitting into the town?
9. Sarah and her husband, struggling, poverty, their different attitudes towards David and his growing up? Wanting to grow the vegetable garden - and the later success and Sarah's comments on the vegetables and the seeds? His being absent, going to the war, his letter home? Ambiguous attitudes towards his son? Sarah, her love, her relying on Mae, life in the town, living out the war, her mental decline, the possibility of taking her to the institution, David's refusal? His giving up his job, coming home, finding her dying, her dying in his arms?
10. The religious background, the title of the film, the revival meetings, the reverends and their travels, the tent meetings, the devout congregation, the professions of faith, witnessing? The tone of preaching by the ministers, salvation, sin and evil, redemption? The popularity of this kind of tent revival preaching at the time?
11. Social attitudes, the south, race issues - and the glimpse of the Klan?
12. The importance of the music, the popular songs and band melodies of the 40s? Echoing the atmosphere of the 30s and 40s, the war, the post-war period? The range of religious songs? Terence Davies and his use of music like this in all his films?
13. The portrait of the south, the glimpse of the characters, society - and the implications of these origins for the changes and growth in the 20th century? As perceived by an Englishman?
