The Old Oak (2023) - Movie Review

It’s such a shame that I only started to get into Ken Loach’s work so close to the end of his career. Sure, retirement in the arts has a faster revolving door than Arkham Asylum, but this is one of those deals that might actually stick. And given how immensely depressing his last film was in Sorry We Missed You, along with the equally depressing impression left by The Boy And The Heron earlier this year, I was a bit apprehensive about this at first. But hey, as I pointed out when I highlighted SWMY as one of my faves of 2019, films that bum me the hell out tend to win my favour in the attempt.

Sorry We Missed You (2019) - Movie Review

The latest release from British working-class hero Ken Loach is a bleak offering. It’s a portrait of a family in the midst of financial and personal crisis, primarily through Kris Hitchen’s humbling turn as a father who has just started a job as a white van man delivering packages. It carries next-to-no flash and about as humdrum as a release can get these days, and yet it carries an emotional intensity that makes for one of the most crushing films of the year.