The Old Oak (2023)

Direction: Ken Loach
Country: UK

Ken Loach is an English director whose work we respected in full. His new drama, The Old Oak, is realism pushed to tears, a minor opus that deals with two topics: impoverishment in former mining towns and the arrival of Syrian refugees. How finely Loach has woven these thematic threads? 

While not packing the same punch as I, Daniel Blake (2016) or Sorry We Missed You (2019), the film intersperses lukewarm and powerful moments, evincing a softness that occasionally leans on pathos and sentimentality, diluting the impact of the narrative. Set in Durham, the story introduces Yara (Ebla Mari), a Syrian refugee with a passion for photography, who arrives in town just to be unconsoled with a broken camera and a less-than-welcoming reception. Already underwhelmed by crisis, some locals develop an unfounded xenophobia that translates into hate, lies, and betrayal. But there’s also kindness and compassion, which especially apply to TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner), the broken yet goodhearted owner of The Old Oak, the sole pub in town, in urgent need of repairs. 

Paul Laverty’s screenplay doesn’t come with major surprises, while Loach’s direction is quietly effective as if the camera wasn’t there. Although navigating predictable territory, they keep tackling social issues deeply rooted in our time and transporting them to the screen with a naturalistic Emile Zola-like approach. It’s a lucid film that, hitting where is necessary, ends up uneven. The optimistic path may touch the viewers’ hearts, but the full complexity of the subject is not there. Yara is reduced to a functional role, her words of lament feeling more superficial than deep. Our hearts go to TJ, not Yara, a consequence of the film’s vulnerabilities.

The pair Loach / Laverty, who has been working together since 1996, leaves us at the doorstep of an intercultural consolidation one can only dream of. The intentions are noble but The Old Oak doesn’t really come off despite the painful dramas behind each character.

Sorry We Missed You (2020)

Direction: Ken Loach
Country: UK

British director Ken Loach, an advocate of hyper-realistic cinema (Riff Raff; My Name is Joe; I, Daniel Blake), has always something pertinent to say through stories that are usually thoughtfully penned by his longtime associate Paul Laverty. That’s the case of Sorry We Missed You, a pungent family drama directly linked to the British working class theme, a recurrent topic in the filmmaker's body of work.

Willing to establish himself as a self-employed delivery driver for a franchising company, Ricky Turner (Kris Hitchen), a father of two, sells his wife’s old car and buys a new van. Through this move, he expects to bring more income, but makes things difficult for the good-hearted Abbie (newcomer Debbie Honeywood), who now works as a home-attendant after losing her job in the 2008 financial crash. Besides the daily predicaments related to demanding contract jobs - their schedules almost don’t allow them to see each other - the couple is having a hard time with their eldest son, Seb (Rhys Stone), who keeps skipping school and behaving whether indifferently or confrontationally whenever called into reason.

Their desperation makes a big impact on us, and it’s easy to realize that, in order to put food on the table, they were forced to abdicate from being a normal family. The strong bonds start weakening as the hard life keeps sucking out their energies. 

The title is multivalent, the storytelling keeps us hooked, the direction is uncomplicated, and the members of the cast deliver performances that are as raw, brave, and tough as the characters they play. Sorry We Missed You might not be Loach’s best film, but it’s a damn good one.

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Directed by Ken Loach
Country: UK / France / Belgium

“I, Daniel Blake” is another urgent work from the brilliant British director Ken Loach. This title now becomes an integral part of the filmmaker’s mandatory ‘social realism’ film list, which also includes “Riff Raff”, “Ladybird Ladybird”, “My Name is Joe”, “Sweet Sixteen”, and “The Wind That Shakes The Barley”.

Loach bites, leaving a bubbly red mark in our consciences as he keenly addresses the social problems inherent to a technological modern world. 
The film, written by Loach’s habitual associate Paul Laverty, got wider reputation after winning the Palme D’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and the Audience Award at Locarno, Stockholm and San Sebastian Festivals.

Dave Johns is Daniel Blake, a hard-working 59-year-old joiner from Newcastle who is aware he can’t work no more after having suffered a major heart attack. Now facing a serious heart condition, Daniel needs the help of the State. However, applying for the sickness benefit program becomes a nightmare populated by frustrating phone calls, moronic obligations, and difficult form fill-outs. 
Despite facing eviction and poverty, Daniel still finds the time to help Katie Morgan (Hayley Squires), a single mother he met at the Job Centre. She has just arrived in town and struggles to feed her children.

“I, Daniel Blake” is a tragic, moving, not to mention infuriating portrait of a decaying society. Its account, warmly humane on one side and embarrassingly sad on the other, has the ultimate goal of emphasizing the importance of solidarity, justice, human rights, and community support.

Loach’s raw and ultra-realistic approach, always loaded with strong messages, remains a fundamental weapon to denounce the sicknesses of our world. He doesn’t need special effects to create a powerful film. He just focuses on simple characters, which we can easily identify ourselves with, exposing their plausible problems with heart and emotion.