Review: Tomorrow Is Always Too Long [Phil Collins] feat. Michael McDonough.
The GoMa is a great place for a really good film exhibit. It’s ground floor gallery with it’s pillars and enclosed space really lets exhibits spring in to life and it has never been needed more than for Collins’ Tomorrow is Always Too Long. As I entered the floor I was met with a sprinkling of old school deckchairs to sit on and a couple of benches, I chose to stand right at the back to take in the film and the other viewers. So, let’s begin.
Phil Collins’ has said to have made this film as his ‘love letter to Glasgow’. I can imagine any love letter to Glasgow would require sorrow as well as happiness and in light of this Collins delivers in spades. The film, working in three brilliant layers all unique in their own right, melt together to create an emotional and intense ride. I found myself often smiling and laughing in to myself as the feature played out and in turn standing aghast and sometimes recoiling. The delight as people from all walks of life, themselves Glaswegian and acquaintances of Collins, delivering and maintaining a realness where you forget you’re actually watching a film and are able to take every drop in as if it was a fly on the wall documentary set in Govanhill. That is until, the music kicks in.
We’re taken on an adventure where the big screen is the telly and Collins is King of the Remote, idly switching from channel to channel until something takes his fancy and we are forced to watch. Infomercials spring to life and range from a psychic reader who dispels a tale of doom on our tech obsessive society to an Elvis impersonator in a See You Jimmy hat teaching us how to make a cheese piece. It honestly is that bizarre in its sheer wonderfulness. I cannot tell you enough how delightful and also terrifying these little bits are on their own, during the psychic reader the music was akin to a soundtrack which reminded me instantly of Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor’s background music throughout the movie Gone Girl, as I stood in the dark I had to stop myself a few times as I caught myself swaying. These scenes then often cut to parts of Glasgow that are quickly recognizable and feature many different characters. One scene in particular of a social club home to a large group of older people where they could hang out, have a drink and play bingo was charming and watching some people singing reminded me a little of my Grampa. I assume most of the audience would be able to relate to some part of the film as I’m sure was perhaps Collins intention, he wanting to show us how he viewed our City. Just as you’re taking in the grounding reality of what you’re witnessing there comes a surreal twist as characters burst in to song. The cinematography is well done and props must go to Michael McDonough who manages to intertwine the songs of Cate Le Bon, all sang by non professionals, in to the spotlight of these Glasgow lives flawlessly.
Speaking of music, the animations themselves have a pretty fantastic backdrop created by Mogwai’s own Barry Burns. The animations, like the infomercials, are split through the film between stories and reveal a more sinister side of Collins’ take on Glasgow. Depicting a more graphic nature the music assists in making an ambiance of anarchy. From scenes of drug taking in a nightclub to graphic sexual encounters in a local park nothing is stripped of Collins’ magnifying glass and rightly so. From my point of view and the twisting of faces I could make out in some of the audience, the animations are an extra bonus and the film was better for it.
I left Tomorrow is Always Too Long and walked through Buchanen Street with a new found take on the City, it’s people and its personality. We are known for our humour, our darkness, our kindness and our bluntness. Collins’ has pinpointed each of these perfectly and did not once consider them as flaws but what makes Glasgow unique, different…Dare I say, better?
With our humour, our darkness and our heart these things can divide us but more often than not bring us stronger together, that is why I love Glasgow.
I would excitedly advise you to check out this film yourself. It’s showing at the GoMa till August 17th. Not to be missed!
- L