A Ken Loach classic that we never got round to seeing at the cinema, and plonked ourselves down in front of last night, with chilli con carne and a bottle of red.
A beautiful compelling film addressing most of Loach’s main concerns – daily life, ordinary folk, life’s obstacles, the mundane streaked with black humour… Liam is 15, his mum’s in prison, he’s not in school, his Dad’s not around anymore, life seems to be plotting a path for him into petty crime in his home town, but Liam wants so much more…
The opening shots really framed the whole thing for me – small children looking through a telescope at the stars and Saturn. Turns out they’re being charged a fee per look in the back garden of a council house in Greenock but nonetheless the imagery is strong – aiming high, getting out of here, looking beyond life as we know it. And there are so many shots of viewing life at a distance and/ or through a lens – from a tower block, with binoculars, across the Clyde.
Two quotes sprung to mind again and again. The unattributable but popular, "Aim for the moon, because even if you miss it you'll end up amongst the stars." And Oscar Wilde’s classic ““We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Well worth watching - as long as you aren’t a social worker, teacher, parent, youth worker, play therapist, fifteen year old, etc etc.
1 comment:
Teenagers "aiming high, getting out of here, looking beyond life as we know it..." If you haven't seen it, watch the video for Doves' Black And White Town. Pure teen frustration, brilliant.
The only problem about being in the gutter is that you have to keep one hand on the roof.
Oh THAT kind of gutter...
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