The Films of Ken Loach
Poor Cow
Kes
Family Life
Black Jack
The Gamekeeper
Looks and Smiles
Fatherland
Hidden Agenda
Riff-Raff
Raining Stones
Ladybird Ladybird
Land and Freedom
Carla's Song
My Name is Joe
Bread and Roses
The Navigators
Sweet Sixteen (January 18/13)
Directed by Ken Loach, Sweet Sixteen follows 15-year-old Liam (Martin Compston) as he attempts to escape from his rough-and-tumble lifestyle by raising money for a small seaside home - with, as anticipated, the character's continuing efforts complicated and confounded by a variety of outside sources (and temptations). Filmmaker Loach, working from Paul Laverty's screenplay, has infused Sweet Sixteen with a gritty, documentary-like feel that's perpetuated by the naturalistic performances, with Compston's impressively authentic work heightening the film's atmosphere of realism on a regular basis. The less-than-eventful nature of Laverty's script is, as a result, not as problematic or distracting as one might've feared, and it's worth noting that although the opening hour is a little hit-and-miss in its execution, Sweet Sixteen does boast a number of palpably engrossing sequences that prove effective at consistently buoying the viewer's interest (eg Liam stubbornly refuses to allow three punks to steal his cache of drugs). There's little doubt that the movie consequently grows more and more involving as it progresses, with the central character inevitably morphing into an engaging figure that one can't help but root for and sympathize with. By the time the expectedly downbeat conclusion rolls around, Sweet Sixteen has established itself as a better-than-average slice-of-life kitchen-sink drama that benefits substantially from Compston's star-making performance.