Wednesday 15 June 2011

Juvenile Liaison 2 (1990) - Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill


Tuesday 7th June 2011.

Broomfield and Churchill's follow up to their genius 1976 documentary Juvenile Liaison. One of the things I like most about Broomfield is the fact that he has the urge to revisit the characters that have populated his past work. It's something he's made a habit of during the past 20 years or so, which is quite out of the ordinary unless it's an ongoing documentary series such as Seven Up! I love the guy for doing it, since I'm always compelled to find out what happened to people after the camera crew packed up and trooped home.

Anyway here we are fifteen years later, as Broomfield & Churchill attempt to track down everyone who appeared in their original documentary. At first things go a little awry, however after employing a private detective they manage to find almost everyone. Those that came across worst in the original refuse to make an appearance. Which is a shame, since this would be their chance to look back on what happened and all that. I can totally understand why though, since as Sgt. Ray points out he felt that the film had been unfairly edited, showing only those things that were bad. Which is fair enough, but then maybe the silly sod shouldn't drag kids around by their hair, like he did in the original documentary.

Those that do give interviews (which is the vast majority), seem to be frank and open. Most are still living in the same area and haven't managed to break out of the rut that their lives were already heading towards in Juvenile Liaison. Is it possible that there will be a Juvenile Liaison 3 at some point in the future, focusing on the originals children? For the sake of all involved I hope not.

2 comments:

Mondo said...

On the subject of documentaries is Dogtown and Z-Boys on your reviews list?

Lawrence said...

Sadly not, but it is time for me to rewatch it so possibly in the future at some point.

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