The Long Day Closes is a 1992 British film written and directed by Terence Davies. It stars Marjorie Yates, Leigh McCormack and Anthony Watson. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Plot The film is set in Liverpool in the mid-1950s. The story concerns a shy twelve-year-old boy, Bud, and his loving mother and siblings. He lives a life rich in imagination, centred on family relationships, church, and his struggles at school. Music and snatches of movie dialogue allow him to enrich his narrow physical environment. "Together these fragments", wrote Stephen Holden in The New York Times, "evoke a postwar England starved for beauty, fantasy and a place to escape." Cast Marjorie Yates as Mother Leigh McCormack as Bud Anthony Watson as Kevin Nicholas Lamont as John Ayse Owens as Helen Tina Malone as Edna Jimmy Wilde as Curly Robin Polley as Mr. Nicholls Pete Ivatts as Mr. Bushell Joy Blakeman as Frances Denise Thomas as Jean Patricia Morrison as Amy Gavin Mawdslay as Billy Kirk McLaughlin as Labourer / Christ Mark Heath as Black Man Music The film uses 35 pieces of music, including renditions of songs by Nat King Cole. Critic David Thomson in his April 2007 review of the film in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine draws attention to the music that was used in the film, in particular "at the end of the film ... that mackerel sky and Sir Arthur Sullivan's 'The Long Day Closes' itself" sung by Pro Cantione Antiqua. Production The film was filmed in sets built in Rotherhithe London at Sands Films Studio under the meticulous instructions of the director. Reception On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 81% approval rating based on reviews from 21 critics, with an average rating of 7.60 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 85/100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". A 2009 appreciation by Dennis Lim said: "Together these fragments", wrote Stephen Holden in The New York Times, "evoke a postwar England starved for beauty, fantasy and a place to escape...The Long Day Closes is filled with surreal, expressionistic touches that lend it the aura of a phantasmagoric cinematic poem." On IndieWire's 2022 'The 100 Best Movies of the 90s' list, the film was crowned the ninth best film of its decade. Critic David Ehrlich writes "Davies’ fading slipstream