SWEET
SIXTEEN
A Film
By Ken Loach
Set in Greenock, the story follows 15-year-old Liam (Martin Compston) who sets out to raise enough cash to buy a caravan for his mother Jean (Michelle Coulter). She is due out of prison the day before Liam's sixteenth Birthday, and he wants everything to be perfect for her, hoping that they will re-form as a family with his teenage sister Chantelle (Annemarie Fulton) and her baby son. His goals are noble, but the means to hand for a teenage entrepreneur are dubious. With his mate Pinball (William Ruane) Liam exploits the black market by selling knock-off cigarettes round the neighbourhood pubs. Then he graduates to peddling heroin, stolen from Jean's thuggish boyfriend Stan (Gary McCormack, The Acid House, Gangs of New York). He's good enough at this to attract the attention of a prosperous but ruthless local crime boss, who sees him as the sort of likely lad worth taking under his wing. Success of a sort is within sight, but Liam discovers that he must count the cost - and that getting what you want may not bring you what you need. For most of the actors involved, Sweet Sixteen represents their first appearance in a film.
"The genesis of Sweet Sixteen may have been back with the making of My Name is Joe," says writer Paul Laverty. "When you're imagining a story there are often dozens of characters screaming for attention, all saying me, me, me, me. We can't feed them all otherwise the story will collapse. But there was one persistent character who would not give up or shut up. He demanded our attention." That voice became the character of Liam. "Paul and I made Bread and Roses in L.A. and thought it would be good to do another film on home ground," explains Ken Loach. "We went on a trip at Paul's instigation to Greenock, which is a town just along the Clyde from Glasgow. The scenery is spectacular, which is more than can be said for the job opportunities since the shipyards closed." Laverty began his task by spending lots of time with young people. "For some time I'd been talking with Ken about doing another very personal story; about how one young person tries to make sense of his life. It's as simple and as complex as that. Friends, family and community connect or smash up against each other in endlessly complex patterns. Liam is at a delicate point in his life. Some things just don't fit, though he is absolutely determined to use his considerable talent and cheek to make them do so."
"What struck me," says Laverty, "from talking to lots of carers who work with children (either in children's homes with foster carers or even secure accommodation) was that, no matter how chaotic the family home, most were still determined to make contact with their mother. There's something extra concentrated about adolescence. There's a special energy which can be exhilarating or explosive. Fragility and often a wild courage, even if misplaced, can sit easily side by side. We were keen to try and capture some of those qualities in our story." "During auditions we worked with hundreds of young people in sports clubs, schools and community groups," explains researcher Pam Marshall. "A lot of the teenagers had never acted before and were quite nervous. I was amazed at how they surprised themselves. Everyone was able to jump in and have a go. I don't think they expected to get caught up in the improvisation. That was very exciting."
The sense of place is probably stronger in Greenock and Port Glasgow than many towns. The river itself has such presence. Its shipbuilding history, which once provided work for tens of thousands of men, is implicit; monster sized cranes still dwarf the new call centres built along the banks. The wind from the West, the open expanse of water and sharp rising hills of the town also dictate a tough wind-swept climate. In his highest and lowest moments, Liam is drawn to the river. It's where he can dream and let his imagination run wild; and where he has to reflect on the choices he's made which will change his life forever.
Although Liam's story is told in a town with a very particular personality, it will have echoes for many beyond these shores.
Born in Nuneaton in 1938, Ken Loach studied law at Oxford before branching out
into theatre by performing with a touring repertory company. This led him to
television, where in alliance with producer Tony Garnett he produced a series
of docu-dramas, most notably the devastating Cathy Come Home (1966) whose impact
was so massive that it led directly to a change in the homeless laws.
The following year saw
his feature debut, Poor Cow, which was followed in 1970 by the highly-acclaimed
Kes. His subsequent films have not always had the benefit of good distribution,
and his television work was in some cases not broadcast (most notoriously, his
documentaries on the 1984 miners' strike). Since the 1990s, however, a series
of such award-winning films as Land and Freedom (1995), Carla's Song (1996)
and My Name is Joe (1998) have established him in the pantheon of great European
directors - his films win considerable attention with the audiences of mainland
Europe and even America. Quote from Ken Loach: "I turned down the OBE because
it's not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who've got it.
It's all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy
and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and
conquest."
"Delivered in a Glaswegian
all but unintelligible to outsiders, the latest instalment of Loach's 'Scottish
Trilogy' transcends the specificity of its setting to touch on universal themes:
parenthood, community, the loss of innocence. Beautifully written by Paul Laverty,
it's a testament to the excellence of the director's ensemble, from the desolate
beauty of Barry Ackroyd's camerawork to George Fenton's sparse, effective score.
But the genius here resides in the performances Loach extracts from his mostly
non-professional cast, in particular Martin Compston's extraordinary central
turn as Liam. By turns lyrical and shattering, this is not just Loach's most
accomplished feature since My Name is Joe, but one of his finest films ever.
It proves once again that when depicting a milieu he knows well, Loach is without
peer."
SIGHT AND SOUND
"Detractors of Ken
Loach's work will undoubtedly see Sweet Sixteen as yet another dreary drama
about the depressed working classes. You can virtually hear the 'Same old Ken'
cries ringing out. That he has never made a film before about a mother-son relationship,
nor tackled the drug problem as he does here, is clearly not enough for some.
Admittedly, the film has a familiar Loach feel. It's his fourth collaboration
with Glaswegian screenwriter Paul Laverty, and his ninth with director of photography
Barry Ackroyd, and the text and textures see Loach on safe turf - more My Name
is Joe than Bread and Roses, shall we say. Undeniably, though, the film packs
a punch, becoming progressively bleaker as it unfolds."
Filmfour.com
"Essentially a bleak
story, the film draws us in with a lively sense of character, offhanded humour
and sharply authentic actors. It's never a slog, never depressing or hopeless,
even though what happens, when you think about it, is rather terrible. Loach
is an expert at making marginal elements of society look like normal life (well,
they are!) and this film resonates with truth and feeling without ever preaching.
There's an edginess here that belies the subtle and skilled camera work, accompanied
by George Fenton's terrific music. And a sharp streak of real-life humour flows
through the film from start to finish, undercut by the difficult choices Liam
is forced to make before his sixteenth Birthday. The only problem with the film
is the thickly accented dialect, which requires subtitles even for an English-speaking
audience (I'd say I understood about half of the dialogue.) But even if you
can't tell exactly what they're saying, you will know…and feel…what
they mean."
Rich Cline, www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk
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