British director Ken Loach is famous for his documentarish movies, presenting everyday life as it really is, without fancy or any dei ex machina; this characteristic of his makes his films not quite easy to watch, especially because of the suffocating feeling they convey and the lack of hope they seem to evoke. Sorry We Missed You is another one of his films that show the cruel British reality of hardworking people/slaves in the 2010s. It is the story of a family of four who struggle to make ends meet by working like dogs and never managing to see light at the end of the tunnel.
There is Ricky (Kris Hitchen) who at the start of the film gets a job as a delivery van driver; however, as his manager makes clear almost immediately, he will work without the benefits of conventional employment at a semi-freelance state. Ricky, fresh out of sudden unemployment and full of debts that never stop to pile up, must accept the inhumane conditions. His wife, Abbie (newcomer Debbie Honeywood who was also present at the premiere and let us in on a few backstage secrets) works as a carer going from house to house from 7 in the morning to 9 in the evening. The couple almost never meet, striving to catch up with their financial responsibilities as well as their two teenagers who seem to be growing up alone. Their youngest daughter, Lisa Jane (Katie Proctor) is a small angel who does not cause any bother but their elder son, Seb (Rhys Stone) in another matter whatsoever; he plays truant, he shoplifts and he seems to be in a constant competition with his father.
As life goes on, the family have to face the normal difficulties that arise to all of us. However, their slave-like way of living does not offer them neither the opportunity nor the time to deal with their problems. They constantly are in a race to catch up with their kids, their needs, their love and their extra-demanding jobs. There is no excuse for anything and the suffocation seems endless.
Ken Loach brings once again his a-game after the excellent I, Daniel Blake which also featured the struggles of the working class in this new era of economic development and extreme capitalism. His matter-of-fact directing which also takes advantage of the use of real people -such as the protagonist Honeywood who in real life is a P.E. teacher and not an actress- and the extremely raw performances make Sorry We Missed You a hard-hitting, cynic, grab-you-by-the-throat portrayal of reality: a reality that would be best if it was just a nightmare.
0 σχόλια :
Post a Comment