Find of the Day: Kevin Macdonald’s heritage
I had no idea that director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) was the grandson of Emeric Pressburger, but browsing his Criterion Top 10 confirms it. Is it just me, or is it the whole web buzzing with Powell & Pressburger? I just watched Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and enjoyed it immensely. I set the DVR to capture Michael Powell’s widow Thelma Schoonmaker presenting it on TCM. Makes me want to devote more time to their collective work.
Back to Macdonald. Here’s a section from his film Touching the Void that stays with me to this day. It actually appears to be from taken directly from the DVD and stuck in segments on YouTube, so I doubt it’s legal. But I wanted to provide video that displays the power of this film. The clip itself is an out-and-out spoiler, but if you’re not going to run out and rent/buy it, it might whet your appetite.
Filed under: FOTD | Tagged: FOTD, kevin macdonald, powell and pressburger, YouTube
It’s like we’re leading parallel lives, I just watched Touching the Void on Wednesday night. Youtube is blocked by our office firewall so I’ll have to wait till I go home tonight to see what clip you’ve got here.
I had no idea Kevin MacDonald was related to Emeric Pressburger, either. I thought he might be the guy from Kids in the Hall, but this is even cooler.
That’s so weird. I swear to God I didn’t check yr movie blog in advance. I totally came at this info exactly in the order that I mentioned above: scouring the Criterion Top 10s, findng the connection to Pressburger, looking for the Macdonald clip, etc.
The clip above gives a taste of Joe Simpson’s long trek down the mountain with a broken leg. The dizzying effect that the camera provides makes this voyage unforgettable - at least to me.