Jami Bernard
Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride
Stu VanAirsdale

..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Ray Pride

Sweet Sixteen
Directed by: Ken Loach

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Ken Loach is Britain's greatest living filmmaker. That's my bias even when I've found some of his films overly doctrinaire in their politics. What is more important to note is that after four decades of making all sorts of movies, his work demonstrates an assured sense of the language of the medium and an keen knowledge on how to tell a story - two commodities sadly rare in contemporary cinema.Sweet Sixteen, his most recent U.S. release, finds him in top form exploring two areas for which he has genuine compassion - young people and Scotland. Again collaborating with writer Paul Laverty, he fashions the tale of a working class teenage boy who's savvy and ambitious but knows no way of improving his lot other than a life of petty crime.

Liam (Marin Compston) comes from a long line of scammers and, when first introduced, is selling discount cigarettes with a friend in pubs and on the streets of Glasgow. His mother (Michelle Coulter) has taken the rap for an offense actually committed by her boyfriend and the blindly devoted lad counts the days until her release. However, when he refuses to pass some contraband to her during a visitation, Liam finds himself out in the street where his sister (Annmarie Fulton) - a single mother - takes him in on the condition he keep his nose clean.

Suffice it to say that the drop out is not truly expected to go legit, simply to steer clear of the police. And, in addition to being street smart, he's lucky. His guile and quick wittedness catch the attention of a local crime boss who sees something of himself in Liam and gives him his head and some turf to run drugs. All the while the boy is working toward finding a decent place for his mother to live on her release.

Tragic obsession has been a recurring theme in Loach's movies but never better observed or more poignant than in Sweet Sixteen. Unlike, say Ladybird, Ladybird or My Name is Joe, the central character really doesn't have the life experience to see the folly of his pursuit. There's a heightened sense of anxiety through every story turn because, despite his background, he is vulnerable and curiously innocent.

That things will end badly is ingrained in the material and the filmmaker understands that he doesn't need to employ a close-up or embolden a music cue to hold our attention. The film is surprisingly buoyant and, at times, larkish without betraying its true nature.

Loach is a facile filmmaker with a precise touch. One never has the sense that what's on screen is arbitrary and that ability and exactness provides his work with a quality of comfort even in the face of generally harrowing circumstance. Still, while he can be likened to a puppet master (and I mean that as an asset), he's blessed with a cast of professionals and neophytes that are never less than genuine, especially first timer Compston who is innately compelling and charismatic as Liam.

Sweet Sixteen (an uncomfortably ironic title) has a Shakespearian bent without its theatrical trappings. Liam has traces of Hamlet but with Iago as his second. But these are adult references and while the titular character proves his ability to survive and co-exist with his elders, it's clear he's yet to evolve a sophisticated grasp of the paucity of logic in character. And therein lies the true tragedy.

A Lions Gate films release of a Sixteen Films production.

 

An Interview With Ken Loach

Email Leonard Klayd

Release Date: May 16, 2003
Rated: R

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Starring: Martin Compston,
William Ruane, Annmarie Fulton, Michelle Abercromby,
Michelle Coulter

Produced by: Ulrich Felsberg, Gerardo Herrer, Rebecca O'Brien

Written by: Paul Laverty, Paul Laverty


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Distributor: Lions Gate Films

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Review Date: May 24, 2003