This film is currently unavailable
Fat Man on a Beach
A simple brief - for the influential writer and filmmaker BS Johnson to talk direct to camera - yielded one of the most extraordinary works of 1970s British television.
Director: Michael Bakewell
Overview
BS Johnson was filmed in a single location on the bay of Porth Ceiriad on the Llŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd, North Wales. The place was part of Johnson's personal mythology, where he climbed the four thousand foot mountain Carn Fadrun at dawn to strip and worship, in his own words, "some kind of female deity - that's the kind of place Llŷn is".
This title is also available on the DVD/Blu-ray 'You're Human Like the Rest of Them: The films of BS Johnson' in the BFI Flipside collection.
Related
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.
The Coming War on China The Coming War on China
Documentary 2016 113 mins Director: John Pilger
John Pilger’s prescient 60th film for ITV is both a warning and an inspiring story of resistance.
Supersonic Supersonic
Documentary 2016 117 mins Director: Mat Whitecross
Relive the stratospheric rise of the kings of Britpop in this rousing nostalgic trip from the producers of Amy.
Gascoigne Gascoigne
Documentary 2015 87 mins Director: Jane Preston
Documentary portrait of the mercurial football genius who inspired the game’s modern renaissance while battling personal demons.
How to Get Ahead in Advertising How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Fantasy 1989 94 mins Director: Bruce Robinson
Richard E. Grant and director Bruce Robinson’s companion piece to Withnail and I is a dark satire about an ad-man who grows a second head.
Fragment Fragment
Drama 1966 11 mins Director: Norman J. Warren
Norman J. Warren's short film tells the story of a young woman's desperation after a brief love affair ends in bitter disappointment.
Poem Poem
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 1 mins Director: B.S. Johnson
A poignant short film set to the fourth part of Samuel Beckett's Quatre Poèmes, as narrated by frequent BS Johnson collaborator William Hoyland.
Untitled Film Untitled Film
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 9 mins Director: David Gladwell
Slow motion black and white experimental short film in which a series of concurrent actions and movements are drawn together.
Unfair! Unfair!
Campaigning film 1970 8 mins Director: B.S. Johnson
Directed by B.S. Johnson, this trade union short depicts an argument between a worker and his employer.
Up Yours Too Guillaume Apollinaire! Up Yours Too Guillaume Apollinaire!
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 2 mins Silent Director: B.S. Johnson
Invited to imagine how Apollinaire would have worked with modern technology, writer/director B.S. Johnson turned John Furse's drawings into an animation that is equally elegant, explicit, surreal and hilarious.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.
The Coming War on China The Coming War on China
Documentary 2016 113 mins Director: John Pilger
John Pilger’s prescient 60th film for ITV is both a warning and an inspiring story of resistance.