Saturday 2 November 2024

The Old Oak (2023 Ken Loach)

In Paul Laverty's story, publican Dave Turner befriends Syrian immigrant Ebla Maris whilst various non professionals bitch about 'foreigners' - and it's the latter that's quite distracting - why not use actual actors, of whom there are I'm sure many wanting a job?

No one gets punished for anything bad and ultimately the community comes together because of the death of her father - which seems quite contrived really. So a film that makes lots of points politically but doesn't quite work dramatically. Her photos are the best thing in it.

It's photographed absolutely naturalistically by Robbie Ryan, who's also completed Andrea Arnold's latest Bird, which has been doing the festivals ahead of general release.


Some people would pair Loach with Mike Leigh but I really wouldn't - in fact I would say they are totally opposite in filmmaking terms. I find I'm not that much of a Loach fan.

What people?

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