RAY & LIZ New Auteurs

In this immersive debut, director and photographer Richard Billingham returns to the squalid council flat outside of Birmingham where he and his brother were raised, in a confrontation and reconciliation with parents Ray and Liz. As Thatcher-era circumstances progressively worsen in their nicotine-stained, grim existence, familial affection is a rare commodity. With a distinctly probing gaze, Billingham’s cine-memoir is as unflinching in its harshness as it is tender in its sadness. Presented graciously with humor and a decided absence of judgment, this complex and layered visual inquiry – with the assistance of UNDER THE SKIN cinematographer Daniel Landin – offers a rich, saturated color palette and meticulous compositions that reveal a surrealistic beauty in memories of poverty. – Malin Kan