人生一日

A prime example is The Elephant Will Never Forget, commissioned by British Transport Films in 1953 to commemorate the closure of London’s tramways. Originally instructed just to shoot the valedictory ceremony, Krish made off with extra film stock, and took to the trams in their dying days, finding an elderly couple to depict taking their last shilling-all-day ride around town. The music-hall song Riding on Top of the Car – which even provoked an impromptu singalong in the critics’ screening – accompanies this farewell to an era, capped with haunting images of the charred tram carcasses after demolition.Two of Krish’s other docs, They Took Us to the Sea (1961) and Our School (1962), focus on childhood experience with a wry compassion and humour worthy of Truffaut. The last film, I Think They Call Him John (1964), is a heartbreaking portrait of a widowed St John’s Wood war veteran going about his solitary daily rituals, designed to call attention to the indifference of baby-boom British society towards its elderly.The crystal-clear social agendas Krish was exploring have an emotional pull that time has only made more poignant. Suffice to say that this magical compendium, on nationwide tour, will be one of the year’s filmgoing highlights for all who get to see it.