'Ray & Liz' Is A 'Melancholic And Unsparing' Portrait Of A Household At Society's Edge

Richard Billingham grew up in a squalid tenement home in Thatcher-era Britain, in a region outside Birmingham commonly referred to as the Black Country. And true to its name, his upbringing was the blackest of circumstances. Billingham and his younger brother Jason wrestled with an alcoholic, withdrawn father and a violent, short-tempered mother, both habitually unemployed: a household constantly perched on the edge of chaos.

For years Billingham has the scenes of his childhood in acclaimed photography, documentary film, and other projects, but now he. The film is filled with deep pain and mesmerizing details of what it's like to grow up in poverty and neglect, focusing less on the hardships the family faced than on how they passed the time.