A must see for social foundations students.
Added 3/19/2009
An excellent portrayal of Willis' 2nd wave in small town in Scotland. Very well made. It is in English but you'll need the English sub-titles unless you are fluent in Scottish street slang.
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Not so sweet . . .
Added 11/19/2007
Set in a town outside Glasgow, this film tells a sometimes heart-stopping and finally heart-rending story of a 15-year-old boy's attempt to create an orderly life out of the chaotic one he's inherited. Committed to raising the 6000 pounds to buy a caravan for his mother, once she gets out of prison, he and a car-thieving friend ramp up their entrepreneurial efforts from flogging contraband cigarettes to punters at the local pub to something that pays more - drug dealing - all of which gets them involved with some thugs who have other plans for them. Ken Loach gives us his usual slice-of-life view of working-class struggles to just make a go of it, this time at a place where the best hope for a paying job is manning the phones at a call center.
Martin Compston as the young Liam is wonderful, and so is his red-headed colleague and partner in crime, Pinball, played by William Ruane. Together they represent a generation abandoned by parents and left to drift in a world without sanctuary. While the arc of the story is from youthful aspirations to crushing disillusionment, Loach says in his director's commentary that we are meant to see the ending as hopeful. Liam and his sister, who looks after him and her own young son, have the kind of resilience and determination, Loach says, to keep to a road that will lead them eventually to independence from their unpromising beginnings. It's a stretch, but you cling to that hope because you've come to care so much about these very real characters.
The performances in the film are captivating, and the kinetic camera work and editing are appropriate for the range of feelings aroused in its young protagonists, from playfulness to terror, rage, and sorrow. The soundtrack is subdued, and the language is #@%&! Oh, and by the way, turn on the subtitles. It's Glaswegian. You won't understand a word.
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Sweet Sixteen
Added 7/25/2007
British director Loach is a master at evoking the hardship of poverty in working-class England, and this hard-hitting drama about a Scottish teen's coming of age is no exception. Loach has an impeccable eye for talented nonactors, too, and Greenock native Compston fits the bill perfectly, portraying a witty and resourceful young drug-runner-in-the-making with convincing confidence. Ruane, as his gawky sidekick, is equally wonderful. Bleakly realistic, yet peppered with humor and a splash of hope, "Sweet Sixteen" is a sympathetic portrait of troubled adolescence.
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A House Doesn't Make A Home
Added 3/31/2007
In Ken Loach's stark but richly rewarding "Sweet Sixteen", we follow events leading up to the sixteenth birthday of the resilient but reckless Liam as he tries to prepare a life and a home in anticipation of his incarcerated but soon-to-be-released mother's return.
Liam is portrayed by the perfectly cast Martin Compston, whose emotive face can seem so youthfully vibrant yet at the same time so weathered and world-weary. And apt visage aside, this first-time actor here proves himself to be one of the great young performers emerging in the cinematic world of late - his pitch-perfect portrayal of Liam is right up there with recent starmaking roles turned in by the likes of Ryan Gosling and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt.
Liam is joined in this film by his best friend and literal partner-in-crime Pinball (who's certainly no wizard, although is perhaps so named because of the way he careeningly drives the "borrowed" vehicles in which he joyrides). Pinball is ably portrayed by William Ruane, another previously unknown local who is also quite a find. Together the two boys try to find ways to survive and thrive amidst an environment in which the odds are greatly stacked against them.
The film is actually shot in Greenock, just down the Clyde river from Glasgow, a town where almost all the jobs have moved elsewhere, leading to few "legitimate" ways to earn money. A place where once-lovely but now dilapidated tower blocks are inhabited in equal measure by junkies and families. As Loach himself states in the appropriately spare commentary track (where long silences abound), it's a location where the visually spectacular scenery "contrasts rather sadly with the quality of life of many of the people who live there."
In "Sweet Sixteen", we find the legendary director's usually strident political overtones to be toned down a tad, his muted message blending in nicely with the drab browns, greys and greens of the bleak and beautiful Glaswegian cityscape. The film shows us, subtly yet firmly, how the most promising and gifted attributes in souls young and old alike can sometimes be squelched and squandered by systemic and structural societal inequities. And though it can be depressing to take in at times, this film is ultimately breathtaking to behold, and the most remarkable thing about Compston's performance is that he portrays Liam so winningly that you actually root for him to be successful in even the most questionable of deeds. All of which makes for a highly recommended viewing experience.
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Reality check for society
Added 1/25/2007
Think about this movie and how it applies to real life situations? An abusive family, mother in jail, the kids being in foster homes. All "Liam" wanted was a fresh start for his family once his mother got out of jail without her abusive boyfriend "stan". He had to do law breaking things to get the money to provide his mother with a place to live and as you can tell once she gets out she doesn't appreciate it. This movie is a wake up call to a lot of people out there that think these types of situations only happen in movies. At the end of the movie we see what lengths he goes to to try his best to get his mother back. I will just say the ending is very emotional and is very real for a lot of kids out there with a family like that.
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