Tony Richardson

 Tony Richardson




Look Back in Anger (1959)



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1. Look Back in Anger (1959)


When the John Osborne play "Look Back in Anger" debuted at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1956, it ushered in a new subgenre of British dramas called 'kitchen sink dramas.' When the play was adapted to film in 1959, these kitchen sink dramas began to flood British cinemas. Like the genre as a whole, "Look Back in Anger" centers on an angry young lower-class man whose bitterness and resentments over his economic standing leads to rage and violence. Although the film received mixed reactions at the time of its release, it is oft remembered for the neo-realist shift it left in its wake, allowing British filmmakers to capture the seething resentments that laid at the heart of British society - one that was completely overrun with economic disparity and social injustice. "Look Back in Anger" is not just a great Richard Burton picture, it was a film that ignited a film movement and genre that illustrated the bubbling anger of an entire nation.

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