BUT DON'T FORGET "THE ANGEL’S SHARE"

Well folks, as some of you know I spent a good few weeks ın Turkey catching up with some much missed sunshine and my somewhat neglected family. Of course this does not mean I stop watching films, oh no. It just means that, partly thanks to my Mom, it becomes just a bit more eclectic. It`s almost like a return to the blogs slightly untidy origins. It feels homely and natural. Which is, coincidentally, what our next film is all about as far as style is concerned.

There may come a day when each and every one of us needs a fresh start in life – you know the old adage; every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Robbie is just such a sinner, in dire need of a new start in life. He has a lot of what he would need for that new start in place: His loving partner, Leonie and a little one on the way. He also has a criminal record a couple of yards long, a scar on his face that puts off those rare potential employers that get past his criminal record and a father in law who would not stop at physically injuring him to ehm ``convince`` him to stay away from his daughter. In short, Robbie is full of genuine good intentions but his entire universe seems intent on preventing him from going on the straight and narrow. But allies come in many strange shapes and forms in this life and for Robbie no one is surprised as he is when the little group he is doing his community service with after his latest fight and the long-suffering social worker Harry who is in charge of their merry band. Harry does not realize this himself but has actually put the entire band, but especially Robbie well and truly in line for a road to Damascus experience. Salvation can truly come in the strangest guises…

This film also marks my Mom`s introduction to a more realistic brand of filmmaking. “What I loved about it” she said, “ıs that it is almost like watching a documentary. Like watching something happening on the street.” Which is of course completely true of Ken Loach`s realistic style of filmmaking. The film takes place ``up north`` as do so many others of his films; the accents are pronounced and Scottish (so much so that my 91 year old grandmother just gave up on being able to understand them and went to bed early) and the characters are raw, day to day folk that you might well come across in a group doing social work. Even the visuals are unpolished, oh expertly done , of course, but it really does give the impression that Loach literally picked up a camera and followed a band of mates throughout the streets of Scotland – the exact and feel he is so good at capturing. It really goes to show that if you have a really good story and some strong actors to bring it to life, you don`t really need technical bells and whistles to make a really great film. I mean, I say that but there is a risk of underplaying the whole visual aspect when you go down that route. It is much like women`s fashion and getting the ``smart casual`` look just right. The whole ``studied`` casual look is so hard to achieve – it is almost easier to dress up completely formally and get it right because there at least we are all 100% of the rules. It is when you start dropping rules here and there when you actually have to sit up and take heed, because you actually have to know all the rules very well to be able to make a good film by using less.  There lies the real territory of directors who try to play around and ``bend`` the rules without having a clear idea of what they are bending. It comes from being overly ambitious, overly confident, dreaming too big… It comes from wanting to run before one can crawl. But it actually takes a master like Loach to get simplicity completely right.

It is also incredibly refreshing to see such completely real characters in film as opposed to Hollywood cut-outs. I do lean more and more towards indies and non-Hollywood productions for my personal entertainment these days but of course one cannot completely avoid ``mainstream`` cinema and I despair sometimes at the sameness of it all. Robbie is, of course a type in himself. He is the criminal fresh out of jail who wants to make a fresh start. This is a character played and re-played by so many of the grates and not so grates – but in this specific case I am thinking names like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro… Robbie is not a grand character of cinema. He is a lad off the streets, a small time thug who just wants to live a quiet life with his partner and his son. The mastery of Loach and the cast is that they make him come so alive that we get completely enthralled with what will happen to him next during the two hours of The Angel`s Share. 

Curious about this little number - then just scroll down! The trailer is at the end of the page!