SWEET SIXTEEN Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Ken Loach Producer: Rebecca O'Brien Writer: Paul Laverty Director of Photography: Barry Ackroyd Cast: Martin Compston, William Ruane, AnnMarie Fulton, Michelle Coulter Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

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Review by: Warren Curry
5/12/03

Although he's been making movies since the mid-1960s, British filmmaker Ken Loach (Raining Stones, Bread and Roses, The Navigators) has still never really caught on in U.S. indie circles in a manner befitting his extraordinary output. While fellow Brit "arthouse" director Mike Leigh has been able to amass a decent-sized following in this country, most interested American filmgoers usually need to make an effort of Herculean proportions to catch a Loach movie during its theatrical run (although the majority of the films he's made in the past decade are readily available on video). With Lions Gate distributing Loach's latest effort, Sweet Sixteen, one can hold out hope that movie fans spanning a wide variety of U.S. cities will have the opportunity to see this devastating film. Sweet Sixteen may just be the crowning achievement of Loach's glorious career.

Simply put, Ken Loach makes important movies -- he is arguably the best firmly socio-political filmmaker the world has ever known. But the importance of his work isn't limited to the topics he covers or the messages his movies convey -- this is a unique director advancing the narrative form of filmmaking. His movies are told via a raw, cinema verite', slice-of-life aesthetic that tackle subjects of enormous gravity in a non heavy-handed way. The result: films that have something to say without force-feeding their commentary. Loach's best movies are intellectual but not cold and remote; full of emotion yet void of obvious manipulation.

The director's skills could not be suited any more perfectly for Sweet Sixteen. Set in an industrial city on the coast of Scotland (because of the harsh Scottish accents, there are subtitles. Trust me, you need them.), newcomer Martin Compston plays 15-year-old Liam, the product of a dysfunctional family, who bristles with a single-minded determination to provide a new life for his mother, Jean (Michelle Coulter), as she's about to be released from prison just prior to the boy's 16th birthday. Liam and his best friend, Pinball (William Ruane), are young, streetwise entrepreneurs peddling cigarettes in pubs as a means to acquire money. Liam constantly runs up against his mother's lowlife, drug dealer boyfriend, Stan (Gary McCormack), and his ornery grandfather (Tommy McKee), who toss the boy out of their home early on.

Liam moves in with his sister, Chantelle (AnnMarie Fulton), and her toddler son, Calum (Calum McAlees), and promises that when their mother is a free woman, he will be the source of a stable life for the family. He places a down payment on a seemingly unaffordable caravan (what us Yanks would refer to as a trailer home), which he envisions as the entire family's new residence, so Jean won't have to return to Stan. When Liam and Pinball's growing industrious spirit, which manifests itself in narcotics dealing, in an attempt to raise the necessary funds for the caravan, runs them afoul of a local mob, their friendship threatens to split apart, as only Liam is subsequently accepted into the ranks of the organized criminals. With his new stature, Liam's dreams of his family's economic solidity and, ostensibly, happiness are closer to being realized. He ignores the warnings of Chantelle, who fears that their mother is in danger of falling prey to the same pattern of behavior which has lead to her current despair.

Astonishingly, Sweet Sixteen marks the acting debut of Martin Compston, who is also a professional soccer player in Scotland. Like most of the leads in Loach's movies, Compston is outstanding. Working with non-professional actors is nothing new to Loach and it's mind boggling that his casts, all the way down to the most minor supporting players, are consistently exceptional. More than anything, Loach has a remarkable gift for casting -- he chooses actors that seamlessly melt into their characters.

Liam's desperate love and loyalty to his mother is as heartbreaking as anything you're likely to see in the movies this year, but Loach never strikes up the sentimental score or cuts between extreme close-ups of facial expressions to create this impression. The director doesn't subvert your intellect by overwhelming you with the emotional content of the story. You feel for these characters because you want to -- not because you're told to. Loach understands that there should be a cerebral payoff to lend the emotional element proper weight.

As I mentioned in my recent review of Loach's The Navigators, the filmmaker has a completely unobtrusive style of directing. It seems like such an effortless, pick-up-a-camera-and-shoot approach to moviemaking, but the effect is riveting. Sweet Sixteen is an astounding film by a director deserving of even significantly higher praise.

(A Lions Gate Films release. Opens in NY on May 16, 2003 and LA on May 23, 2003. Expands to more cities at later dates.)