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United Kingdom · 2012
2h 9m
Director Julien Temple
Starring Michael Gambon, Malcolm McLaren, Hetty Bower, Miss Marsh
Genre
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Director Julien Temple surveys the past century of London's tumultuous history in this vibrant documentary. From musicians, writers, and artists to dangerous thinkers, political radicals and above all ordinary people, this is the story of London's immigrants and bohemians and how together they changed the city forever.
Temple and editor Caroline Richards demonstrate that the London mob (it can seem like there's been only one mob through the ages) time and again rescues the city from its complacency—and safeguards it from the suffocation of class-bound England.
Time Out London by Dave Calhoun
This is a portrait of cycles and change. But the mood of the film suggests that we should be impressed that this ever-growing, ever-changing city of ours is still chasing after new versions of the modern.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Temple's film is refreshingly free of cliché. A very heady experience.
A dizzying collage of all the changes in London’s social and architectural fabric since light was first trained through celluloid.
You’re left marvelling at London’s capacity for renewal and reinvention.
8 players. Combined age: 703.
BREAKING UP IS HARD. MEETING NEW PEOPLE IS HARDER.