Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
By the Time It Gets Dark
Anocha Suwichakornpong's mesmerising and innovative treatise on memory, politics and cinema.
Drama 2016 106 mins
Director: Anocha Suwichakornpong
Overview
A filmmaker travels to a rural retreat with an author who was an activist in her youth. Hoping to collaborate on a script, the director begins interviewing the writer, building a picture of the circumstances that sparked her political awakening. From this premise, By the Time it Gets Dark branches off in many directions, its elliptical journey employing a variety of filmmaking styles to create a provocative treatise on memory, politics and cinema. A cafe worker who reappears as other characters sparks a central question about representation, while the presence of a famous young actor explores the power and influence of fame and charisma.
Along the way, the film touches on telekinesis, fungus, fame, tobacco, dreams and glitch art. Occasionally dizzying, By the Time it Gets Dark is never didactic and through her bold approach to the medium Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) offers audiences a thrilling glimpse of the possibilities of cinema.
infrequent strong languageRelated
Drama
Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.
Don't Look Down Don't Look Down
Drama 2019 89 mins Director: Olivier Ducastel
Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (directors of Théo and Hugo), serve up a deliciously enigmatic chamber piece.
I vitelloni I vitelloni
Drama 1953 107 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini’s influential drama follows five young Italian men and their different attempts to disrupt the drudgery of provincial life.
Juliet of the Spirits Juliet of the Spirits
Drama 1965 137 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Fellini’s first colour feature is a sensory experience that blends fantasy and reality in rich, evocative ways, following a woman’s self-discovery through stunning visions.
La Strada La Strada
Drama 1954 104 mins Director: Federico Fellini
A brutish travelling strongman (Anthony Quinn) acquires a waif-like young assistant (Giulietta Masina) before taking to the road in Federico Fellini’s acclaimed neo-realist fable.
Sonatine Sonatine
Crime 1993 94 mins Director: Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano's masterful and meditative gangster film, about a yakuza sent to the beautiful beaches of Okinawa where he has time to ruminate on his fate.
Kermode introduces
Fanny and Alexander Fanny and Alexander
Drama 1982 181 mins Director: Ingmar Bergman
Bergman’s magisterial and sumptuous portrait of a 20th-century Swedish family.
Love Exposure Love Exposure
Comedy 2008 237 mins Director: Sion Sono
Japanese cinema's enfant terrible, Sion Sono, unleashes this demented, whirlwind tale of cults, love, violence and perversion.
The Kreutzer Sonata The Kreutzer Sonata
Drama 2008 96 mins Director: Bernard Rose
Bernard Rose updates Tolstoy's tale about the corrupting power of sex and jealousy, with Danny Huston as the wealthy husband of a beautiful, famous pianist (Elisabeth Röhm).
A Northern Soul A Northern Soul
Documentary 2018 73 mins Director: Sean McAllister
Acclaimed filmmaker Sean McAllister (A Syrian Love Story) returns to his hometown of Hull to profile local resident Steve Arnott, a struggling warehouse worker who harbours his own creative dream of breaking into hip-hop.
La Notte La Notte
Drama 1961 122 mins Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece stars Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau as a couple re-examining their emotional bonds.
The Old Dark House The Old Dark House
Comedy 1932 72 mins Director: James Whale
A group of weary travellers arrive at a spooky mansion with a madman on the loose, in this classic horror-comedy from James Whale (Bride of Frankenstein)
New
The Whalebone Box The Whalebone Box
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2019 83 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
On their latest jaunt, Iain Sinclair and Andrew Kötting set out to return a whalebone box to its place of origin in the Outer Hebrides.
Hard, Cracked the Wind Hard, Cracked the Wind
Horror 2019 17 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A haunting with words is the lure between life and death for a young Cornish poet.
Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.
Enough to Fill Up an Eggcup Enough to Fill Up an Eggcup
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2016 36 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Transcending a portrait of place, the quiet, eternal rhythms of the small fishing cove Penberth are caught, landed and served up in this stark and gentle handcrafted celluloid poem from Mark Jenkin (Bait).
Don't Look Down Don't Look Down
Drama 2019 89 mins Director: Olivier Ducastel
Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (directors of Théo and Hugo), serve up a deliciously enigmatic chamber piece.
David Bowie Is Dead David Bowie Is Dead
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2018 17 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Mark Jenkin (Bait) undertakes a stream-of-consciousness road trip through London in the turblent wake of David Bowie's death.