Sweet Sixteen

This is a fairly typical Ken Loach social drama film, with the main character shown trying to improve his circumstances in time for his mums release from prison. Its somewhat predictable in terms of plot development but the characters are well performed and its quite gritty - it seemed pretty realistic I suppose, from what little I know. If your a fan of the directors work then I'd say this is worth a watch, yes.

There's nothing to see here that hasn't been seen before in some fashion.

Ken Loach makes social realist films, similar to the Dardennes Brothers from Belgium, but he has been at it for a lot longer (his 1969 film, Kes, is a real tearjerker about a poor boy whose falcon becomes the only thing that makes life worth living). Jonathan Rosenbaum refers to these films as "social deterministic" and I suppose they do point to poverty and its ill effects as causal factors - or at least constraints - that lead to all the sad and bad outcomes that his characters face. In Sweet Sixteen, newcomer Martin Compston plays Liam, a teen with an unstable family life in Greenock, Scotland (subtitles are required). His mum is in prison and her boyfriend is a vicious drug dealer aided by Liam's own grand-dad. His sister is estranged from the family and is a single teen mum herself. After a row, Liam leaves to join his sis and optimistically plans a future where he can live with his mum in a caravan overlooking the scenic River Clyde. This takes money so he and a friend steal drugs (from his mum's boyfriend) and begin dealing, eventually catching the eye of the local drug kingpin, who signs them up for bigger things. Compston's portrayal of Liam is exhilarating - he is full of energy and laughter and basically fearless, getting into a lot of scrapes and earning a few hard knocks. However, despite his optimism and positivity about the future, we know that this is not the kind of enterprise that leads to good things and this is not the sort of movie where things work out. Loach (and screenwriter Paul Laverty, who also co-wrote Loach's most recent hit, I Daniel Blake, 2016) has a different message to convey. But he does it with a true affection for his characters and sympathy for their plight and their often fruitless and frustrated attempts to deal with it.

One of my new favorites.

Martin Compston gives a great performance in this sad and uncomfortably realistic coming of age film. A brilliant film by one of the United Kingdoms most prized directors, Ken Loach. This is a film not to be missed, and this is a film that should be taken seriously because of the sort of world it depicts. This accurate depiction reflects the life of thousands of young boys currently living in poverty in the UK who face the problems in which Compstons character is faced with.

Another dose of gritty social realism from Ken Loach.

A British gem. A young man whose mother is in prison decides to get money to provide a proper home for her away from her abusive husband (his stepdad) but soon finds himself way over his head and in trouble. This is a great drama filmed around Glasgow by the talented British filmmaker Ken Loach (remember Kes). The Scottish accents were deemed inpenetrable on release and was released in US with English subtitles. A gem of a film with a devastating ending.

Honest, raw, and well... It's Ken Loach.

It's a heartbreaking tale from social realist master Ken Loach, thanks to his assured direction and a powerful lead performance from Martin Compston.

A good little British film about a boy struggling to grow up around a shattered family. He begins dealing drugs, only to find it leads him to even more problems. It has some surprisingly great performances and a powerful story, with some good old fashioned British filmmaking, but it seems a lot longer than it actually is. Not a film I'll watch again in a hurry, but still a good one.