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Children Of Men (2006)
The Film: Set in a near future where humanity has become completely infertile, Clive Owen plays a grizzled civil servant who gets kidnapped by his estranged wife (Julianne Moore) and charged with rescuing the last pregnant woman in Britain. Alfonso Cuarón directs a somber, dystopian sci-fi that dazzles with it’s visual flair.
The Best Brit Bit: Think the unbroken opening shot of Gravity was impressive? Take a look at Cuarón’s mind-blowing tracking shots in this – one sequence confined to a car as Owen outruns an ambush; and a 378 second mini-masterpiece that weaves through a burnt-out building in the middle of a running street battle.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: We’ve seen plenty of apocalyptic wastelands in Australia (Mad Max) and America (The Road), but nothing looks as grim as Bexhill on wet Sunday morning…
Never Let Me Go (2010)
The Film: The first half of Mark Romanek’s lyrical adaption of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel drifts around a country boarding school like nothing’s wrong. But by the time the kids grow up into Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield, we’re told that they’re all actually clones being farmed for their vital organs. Barely even flirting with the usual tropes of the genre, Alex Garland’s script turns a sappy sci-fi love-triangle into a haunting, heart-breaking meditation on real-life tragedy.
The Best Brit Bit: The moment that Mulligan and Garfield realise who they really are, and what they’re really there for, the film treads a careful line between sci-fi and social drama, hope and horror – with Mulligan’s measured performance revealing more in a single glance than any line of dialogue.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: Nowhere else looks quite as beautiful and bleak at the same time.
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Film: Sex and death hang heavy over Powell and Pressburger’s heady swooner set in a Himalayan convent. Deborah Kerr is the woman trying to forget her emotions after a bad break-up and Kathleen Byron is the psycho-sexual virgin nun who’s jealous of her experience – with the intoxicating landscape of India threatens to overpower them both.
The Best Brit Bit: Jack Cardiff won an Oscar for his hallucinogenic cinematography – painting with impressionistic Technicolor camerawork that cut straight to the heart. The bell tower vision in the violent climax is one of British cinema’s most indelible images.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: Technically, it should have been made in India – but Powell and Pressburger somehow managed to make West Sussex look even better than the real thing.
Elizabeth (1998)
The Film: Cate Blanchett stars as Queen Elizabeth I in the first part of director Shekhar Kapur’s proposed trilogy. Starting in 1558, when Lizzy is still just a frolicking princess with her eye on Joseph Fiennes’ breeches, the film follows her succession to the throne of England, her rejection of various suitors and her decision to behead anyone who looked twice at her powdery white face.
The Best Brit Bit: In a scene reminiscent of Michael Corleone’s baptismal purge in The Godfather, Elizabeth dispatches all of her enemies in one bloody night whilst she prepares for her virginal court reappearance.
Axes fall, heads roll and Mozart echoes down the ages as she whispers the words of her dastardly consigliere (Geoffrey Rush): “Let it all be done…”
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: “I am married… to England!”
Performance (1970)
The Film: A tough nut London gangster (James Fox) gets on the wrong side of his boss and ends up hiding out in Mick Jagger’s house. It being 1970, directed by Nicolas Roeg and involving Mick Jagger – copious amounts of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll ensues in an experimental, hallucinogenic, utterly brilliant slice of New Wave cinema.
The Best Brit Bit: Influencing everyone from Quentin Tarantino and Jonathan Glazer to The Happy Mondays and The Charlatans, Roeg’s freewheeling crime/drama/drug/art film is lined with unforgettable moments. The sight of a cross-dressed Jagger wielding a neon tube to the strains of Jack Nitzsche’s acid-soaked sitar score couldn’t possibly be any more era-defining.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else : There’s only one Nicolas Roeg (and there’s definitely only one Mick Jagger).
The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943)
The Film: Winston Churchill wouldn’t put this on his best British list (he famously thought it was all about him…), but that thankfully hasn’t stopped Powell and Pressburger’s Technicolor masterpiece standing the test of time. The biopic of a fictional fat colonel – complete with handlebar moustache – that looks back beyond the bluster and the belly to his days as a dashing officer in the Boer war. An elegy for a person, an age and an attitude that got lost somewhere in the trenches of WWI, Blimp holds a cracked mirror to fading glory.
The Best Brit Bit: Blimp (Roger Livesey) defends the honour of Britain by insisting on a duel with German officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). Powell and Pressburger slow-build the tension for a full 6 minutes (small talk, choosing swords, reading the rules, etc) before finally letting the soldiers fight – whilst the camera drifts balletically up into the rafters, leaving them to it.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: Inspired by a satirical comic strip by David Low (not by the life of Winston Churchill…) Blimp is as much a cartoon of British history than he is of a British general.
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Film: A Scottish policeman gets a letter calling him to a remote Hebridean island to investigate a young girl’s disappearance. Unfortunately, he arrives just in time for the islander’s May Day celebrations when they dress up as animals, shag the walls of the local pub and burn Scottish policeman inside giant wicker effigies.
The Best Brit Bit: There’s something intangibly terrifying about Robin Hardy’s harvest horror. Whether it’s the washed out ’70s pallet, the pagan euphoria drummed up by the folk music or the gleefully jolly way the islanders carry out their horrible acts, there’s no forgetting the film’s final scene: with the camera cresting the hillside for the first time to see the towering wooden figure. British horror (and firework night) would never be the same again.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: Two words: Nic Cage.
Four Lions (2010)
The Film: A comedy about suicide bombers went down a storm in certain parts of the British press – but the naysayers completely missed the point. It takes a brave filmmaker (Chris Morris) to take such an dark story and turn it on its head – making home-grown terrorists look like complete prats. Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Adeel Akhtar and a hilariously militant Nigel Lindsay star as the four twonks who decide to “blow up the internet” – before settling on a kebab shop.
The Best Brit Bit: So many best bits; so many quotes. If the exploding crow or the Honey Monster takedown isn’t enough – try saying “rubber dingy rapids" with a straight face…
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: To be honest, we’re still surprised it could be made anywhere.
Hunger (2008)
The Film: Steve McQueen’s visceral, scarring debut spotlights an early career-making performance from Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the IRA volunteer who staged a two month hunger strike in Northern Island’s Maze prison in 1981. Pushing the politics into the background, McQueen focuses on the humanity – and inhumanity – of life behind bars. Once seen, never forgotten.
The Best Brit Bit: So much of the film batters and bruises that a quiet conversation between Sands (Fassbender) and Father Moran (Liam Cunningham) – filmed in McQueen’s now trademark long, static take – allows the film, and the audience, to breath.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: The launch pad for two of Britain’s finest talents – without Hunger we wouldn’t have Shame or 12 Years A Slave. Or Magneto…
Remains Of The Day (1993)
The Film: A terribly English love affair between a butler (Anthony Hopkins) and a housekeeper (Emma Thompson) set against the backdrop of encroaching war, Merchant Ivory’s stately adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel simmers and smoulders under the surface.
The Best Brit Bit: Forget Hannibal Lecter – it takes a humble English butler to draw out Anthony Hopkins’ finest performance.
A measured study of reserve and restraint; it’s almost painful to watch the scene when a playful Thompson tries to see what (perfectly innocent) book he’s reading – invading his personal space, breaking the house rules and twisting his heart strings into knots.
Why It Couldn’t Be Made Anywhere Else: Crippling shyness is what makes Britain great.
