Your Face Here : British Cult Movies since the Sixties Book

A very entertaining read. Each chapter of this book details a different British cult film—A Hard Day’s Night, The Blow Up, If…, Performance, Get Carter, A Clockwork Orange, The Wicker Man, Quadrophenia, Withnail & I, Naked, Trainspotting, and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels—and covers the film’s backstory, the production, the media reception, and the legacy. In addition to this, the Lock, Stock chapter ends the book with an argument for organic, legitimate cult-status as opposed to the marketed, soulless “retro” of Ritchie’s film and questions whether or not cults can even be allowed to grow in today’s film climate. It’s pretty simple and straight-forward, but the stories behind each film are utterly fascinating and well told.

The best thing about this book is the voice of Catterall and Wells. They approach their subject matter as devoted fans and their enthusiasm propels the work. The pretentious, detached attitude that weighs down so many film books is nowhere to be found. This is a book written for and written by passionate, geeky film buffs.

I went into this book having seen most, but not all of the films covered. By the end, I had included several more in my Netflix queue. The chapters concerning the films I was not familiar with didn’t drag in the slightest—on the contrary, I left intrigued. Reading this book has left me in awe that some of these films even got made at all, considering how many forces seemed to be against them. In addition to these stories, Catterall and Wells pepper each chapter with the details of some of the filming locations, whether they’re still there or not. You could make your own mini British film tour using the information presented in this book.

For those interested in this—albeit very specific—section of pop culture history, I recommend this book. I have not yet found another book on this subject, but considering how well researched and just plain fun this book is, I might not need to.