It becomes his idea of paradise and he pursues it with all the determination of Lamberto Maggiorani searching for his missing bike in Vittorio De Sica's neo-realist classic The Bicycle Thief.
It will allow his mother a fresh start on the day she is released from prison and the day before his sixteenth birthday. He sets his sights on a two-bedroom caravan nestled on the banks of the River Clyde. Vowing to make a better life for himself and his mother, his priorities are universal-home, family and love.
SWEET SIXTEEN MOVIE IRELAND FULL
Bright, cheeky, and full of brass neck, his tragedy is that he possesses so much potential.
His mother is in jail, her psychotic boyfriend has no time for him and he has little prospect of gainful employment in an area of Scotland gripped by post-industrial decline, unemployment and a drug culture fuelled by futility. Excluded from school and condemned by a society that has nothing to offer him, Liam (Compston) is as doomed as a film noir sap. The second film in an unofficial Loach/Laverty trilogy set in Scotland, Sweet Sixteen once again manages the tricky balancing act of mixing soap box politics with soap opera emotions. A prophet without great box-office appeal in his own country, Loach is unlikely to see anything change with Sweet Sixteen but it will be warmly received in Loach strongholds especially in Europe and particularly were it to receive some Jury recognition. Heavy Scottish accents could pose a marketing headache on this occasion and the Festival screening adopted the unusual, perhaps unique, measure of subtitling a British film in both French and English. Brilliantly played by non-professional newcomer Martin Compston, the character of Liam is a worthy addition to Kes, Cathy, Joe and the vast army of ordinary lives otherwise ignored by the establishment and marginalised by mainstream culture. The heartrending tragedy of a Scottish teenager struggling for his small share of happiness may not mark a radical departure from Loach's distinguished record of uncompromising social realist dramas but it remains a heartfelt, hard-edged tale of life in the raw. Screened in Competition.Ĭontinuing the rich collaboration between director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, Sweet Sixteen puts a very human face on the plight of the socially disadvantaged in modern Britain.