Sonic screening - short review - HOW WE USED TO LIVE by Paul Kelly

A charming, touching and nostalgic love letter or romantic tribute to London by director Paul Kelly made in collaboration with the BFI national archive. How We Used to Live is almost entirely made up of archive material and Ian McShane’s narration. The result is wonderfully hypnotic, very romantic and sometimes even warmly satirical. Kelly is especially successful in matching up the music with the footage of the city’s history, in a style that is very reminiscent of the city symphony films from the early days of film. It is also very successful in showing just how important national archive material is in preserving a nation’s identity and providing a great starting point for new films and new artistic projects.