Capital Celluloid 2016 - Day 335: Thu Dec 1

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Richardson, 1962):
Libreria Bookshop, 65 Hanbury St, London, E1 5JP, 7pm 

MUBI presents Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) in collaboration with Woodfall Films. Richardson's son in law, Woodfall Films 'Accidental Curator' Steven Hess and film critic Neil Young will be in conversation.

Time Out review:
As with its French equivalents, much of the British New Wave looks horribly dated in a modern context: all that light jazz, casual romantic disaffection and overeager jump-cutting doesn’t really wash with contemporary audiences. But what’s beyond criticism is the commitment to emotional veracity which fuelled films like ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’. So while the timeworn clichés of the kitchen sink remain intact – grubby class warfare, county-hopping pseudo-Northern accents, the God’s-eye shot of ‘our town from that hill’ – the film is anchored in Tom Courtenay’s remarkable, remorseless performance as the eponymous runner Colin, torn between selfishness and sacrifice, class loyalty and commercial gain, impossible victory and inevitable surrender.
Tom Huddleston

Here (and above) is the trailer.