313 x Fuck.

The Brits seem to be able to consistently pull off solid realist films more than pretty much any other country. Shane Meadows does it, Andrea Arnold does it, Mike Leigh does it. But probably the longest serving member of this Brit-realist culture is Ken Loach, the master of depression. Loved by Cannes, he’s never been embraced commercially or, really, by awards-givers on the other side of the Atlantic, unlike, for example, Leigh. But for the last twenty years or so he has been putting out powerful films about the lower classes of the United Kingdom, and doing them very well. (I will note that I almost had a heart attack when I saw a poster for Looking For Eric, his latest, earlier this year with the word ‘heart-warming’ on it - what? Ken Loach? Heart-warming? Has the entire world gone mad?)

I’ve seen a few of them, but right now without an internet connection handy all I can think of is The Wind That Shakes The Barley with Cillian Murphy, a grueling but powerful look at the long-running tensions between the Irish and the English. Sweet Sixteen, his 2002 feature that I saw the other day, is set in Scotland this time (he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to which realm of the UK he sets his films in), and is a much more immediate film.

In his debut film role, Martin Compston gives a stunning turn as the fifteen-almost-sixteen year old central character Liam. Kicked out of his grandfather’s home (which he shares with his mother’s lover), he sets about exacting revenge by stealing the drugs hidden out in the kennel of this house, with a view to selling them to purchase a caravan that he and his mother can live in when she is released from prison the day before his sixteenth birthday. This small-scale, initially short-term narcotic crime endeavour quickly escalates after he steps on the turf of a major name in drugs in the town, and he is coerced into joining this drug ring. He proves quite successful, and very quickly the money is rolling in - he has his own apartment, a sharp suit, and everything is going well. He loses his relationship with his best friend, Pinball (William Ruane), but he regains a strong relationship with his sister and her young son. Plus, his mother is about to be released, and that is all he cares to look forward to. When she gets out, no more shall she take drugs, but instead will be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour, selling on to other addicts. 

The world of drugs is never really pretty, but Loach does an incredible job of not showing it as all bad. Well, he shows that Liam does, indeed, get many benefits out of it, and yes, he has to make some hard decisions, but who doesn’t have to if you want to get ahead in any industry? Just because these decisions involve knives doesn’t necessarily make them more morally objectionable. Don’t get me wrong, Loach does not glorify this gangster world. Instead, he shows it as it is. Highs and lows. Ups and downs. Winners and losers. It’s just that the stakes, both to gain and to lose, are higher, and often involve your health, your mobility, or your life.

Central to the effectiveness of the film is that stunning central portrayal by the young Compston. He is pretty much present for the entire film, and his likability despite some of the things he does is what makes the film sing, makes it work. If you weren’t on some level rooting for his success, it would all fall spectacularly to pieces. Barry Ackroyd captures the sparseness and starkness of the town without exploiting poverty, instead giving us the simple way it is. And Loach draws it all out without ever seemingly wasting a word, a shot, a moment. It is a very simple concept, but it is superbly executed. In reality, I think it elevated that world of realism by avoiding the horrible sense of despair that is so often front and centre, and by instead creating a world of hope in unexpected circumstances. Maybe I’ll have to check out Looking For Eric sooner rather than later - it looks like he just may be able to make it work. 4.5 stars.

(By the by, the title of the post is reference to the number of times 'fuck' (or its variations) is apparently said in the film. That seems like a lot. In fact, it would make it about every 20 seconds. And you know what? I didn't really notice it being used excessively. Though, there were numerous points where I couldn't actually really understand what they were saying, due to their accents...)

Innit Sweethearts?

Mike Leigh is a love or hate director. Truly. I think he is that polarising. I remember when Happy-Go-Lucky opened the Sydney Film Festival last year, I knew people who tried to watch it, knowing they hated his films, and got through fifteen minutes before leaving. Then, I know people who love his films, who will gladly watch anything he puts out. I fall into the latter camp, but I can totally see why people would hate him. His films are very demanding on the viewer.

I won’t go too much into how Leigh makes his films, as it’s pretty well documented. He favours a heavily rehearsed and improvised approach, where secrets and plot points are revealed to the actors as they go along. I guess this is why his performers are often so incredible - they really have to inhabit the characters in order that they can maintain the continuity over months of development and shooting, without knowing what is really happening around them. Much like life, really. But yes, he’s sent Brenda Blethyn to an Oscar nom for Secrets and Lies, Imelda Staunton to one for Vera Drake and Sally Hawkins to one for Happy-Go-Lucky. Oh, wait, that last one isn’t true. AND WHAT A SCANDAL THAT IS.

But moving on.

Leigh’s major breakout film across the pond was Secrets and Lies, his '96 film launching Brenda Blethyn onto the world with her turn as Cynthia, along the way receiving five Oscar noms and that pretty leaf from Cannes, the Palme d’Or, among many others including the Best British Film BAFTA. An aging single mother to Roxanne, Cynthia has a strained relationship with her sister-in-law Monica (Phyllis Logan), meaning she doesn’t get to see her brother Maurice (Timothy Spall), a successful photographer, anywhere near as often as she’s like. Roxanne has recently started to see a new man, leaving Cynthia virtually alone.

All of this changes with a phone call from Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste in another Oscar nominated turn), bringing an unsettling revelation and reminder of the past. Hortense fills the lonely void in Cynthia’s life, bringing her much happiness, but it’s a dangerous lying game they’re playing, one certain to come dramatically to an end at Roxanne’s 21st birthday party, held at Maurice’s house.

I’ve heard criticism of Blethyn as too hysterical. I can see where that’s coming from, but, really, no one does hysterical like she does it, and here, she does it perfectly. She carries such loneliness and emotional baggage on her shoulders for the entire film (and it’s not a short one) flawlessly. You truly feel for her every time she sheds a tear. Here she is, she has tried to do everything to help her daughter and create a family, and it’s all coming to nought. The one shot at happiness that she has, that brought by Hortense, is not only fringed with danger, it is positively plated in it. This happiness can only last so long - but while it does last, you feel so, so good for Cynthia. The difference is remarkable.

The supporting cast are similarly excellent. Spall plays the younger brother very well. He tries to be supportive, though as the younger and more successful sibling this is always difficult, but is nevertheless somewhat curtailed by his wife’s lack of enthusiasm for a relationship with his family - from her posh heights, they must seem like an appalling bunch of deadbeats. But she also has her secrets, and its exposure, amongst the rest of the revelations in the climactic scene, is equally explosive. Jean-Baptiste is wonderfully stoic in the face of this family meltdown of which she isn’t really a part, but is there for and forced to experience - and a lot of it is seen to be her fault, an unfair laying of blame, but in the circumstances, who else are they going to blame?

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this film. That’s three hits from three for me and Mike Leigh. It’s an excellent socio-realist study of family, backed up by astonishingly real performances and a terrific, oft-improvised script. 4.5 stars, and I can’t wait for the next offering from this master of British cinema.