Tuesday, November 29, 2011

RIP Ken Russell

Ken Russell, one of Britain's most provocative and controversial directors, has died at age 84. The breadth of Russell's career is too great and wide-ranging that I could not possibly do any justice to it (having only seen a small percentage), but I can say this: the guy made one of my favourite films of all time: The Devils, an incendiary masterpiece that somehow continues to disturb Warner Brothers so much that they apparently still refuse to release it on DVD or give it any respectable home video treatment it definitely deserves (though the British Film Institute are rectifying this next year; one can only hope for a NZ release).

Sad to say we only have a miniscule portion of Ken Russell's work in our library but what there is is worth delving into if you're the least bit curious about him - certainly films like Tommy, Women in Love and Mahler are among his best and most acclaimed.

Round-up of obits: BBC News, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times.

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