Screen Scenes
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 17, 2003 9:00 p.m.
“Sweet Sixteen” Directed by Ken
Loach
Famous socialist director Ken Loach just can’t stop
slapping his audience across the face with a political message.
With “Sweet Sixteen,” his latest foray into the
world of dysfunctional British families, Loach attempts a gritty
depiction of a teenager forced by economic strife to turn to a life
of crime. But by the film’s end, melodrama takes the place of
authenticity as the Loachian story arc forces both characters and
audience into a place so obvious that the film almost need not
exist in the first place.
The result is a mixed bag of convincing dialogue, dark and edgy
scenes, and an inescapable feeling that life according to Loach
will never be anything more than the sum total of that year’s
domestic policy agenda.
Where the film succeeds is in its use of amateur actors that
manage to seem completely real. Martin Compston gives a commanding
performance as the troubled 15-year-old lead character Liam. Given
Compston’s complete lack of experience, Loach can be credited
with drawing out the boy’s talent.
Like most of Loach’s films, “Sweet Sixteen”
dwells on hope and disappointment. The problem with this is that
Loach, along with longtime collaborator and screenwriter Paul
Laverty, think they already know the causes of all our pain and
suffering. By forcing its characters into outcomes that serve a
specific message, “Sweet Sixteen” acts as the end of a
discussion as opposed to the beginning.
-Sommer Mathis
