Stand up, if you hate Man Utd…
Cards-on-the-table time – your reviewer loathes with a passion (some might say with every fibre of his being, at times) a certain football club variously known as Scum, Glory Hunters Central, Manure and the Evil Empire. Oh, and they also go by the name of Manchester United, for the [...]
[photopress:age_of_stupid_1.jpeg,thumb,alignleft]It’s the world, stupid
The release of any low-budget film to a limited viewership, especially if it’s based on a polarizing and emotive subject, is bound to attract debate and certain degree of conflict. The Age of Stupid (2009) is no exception.
Straight off the bat, I can tell you that this is a film that [...]
[photopress:logo_bfi_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft] To celebrate the 75th birthday of the BFI Southbank, the British Film Institute asked 75 celebrities (some you may have heard of, the rest appear to be fillers) for their favourite film.
The idea behind this was to produce a list of ‘classic movies of the future’. Better yet, the top five as voted by [...]
[photopress:barley2.gif,thumb,alignleft] Striking back against the Empire
Ken Loach’s controversial, Palme d’Or-winning study of Republicans v the Brits in 1920s Ireland raised the hackles of several well-known UK critics (who, customarily, didn’t feel the need to actually see the film) as well as Irish commentators. It’s normally a sign that an artist has got something right when [...]
Angry young boy
Young writer-director Shane Meadows is fast making a name for himself as a social commentator in the mould of Ken Loach – his films, such as Dead Man’s Shoes (2004), Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002) and A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) are uncompromising and unforgiving, but have a solid [...]
Picturenose’s James Drew had the opportunity for a brief chat with director Ken Loach on his recent visit to Brussels, as his hard-hitting indictment on the realities of life for immigrant workers in the UK, It’s A Free World… arrives in Belgium.
As far as getting off on the right foot was concerned, I couldn’t have [...]
Sobering slant on exploiters and exploited
Long-recognised, from writing Cathy Come Home (1966) onwards, as one of the most uncompromising directors around when it comes to educating audiences about social injustices, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it’s virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating [...]
