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Sorry, this movie sucks

Boring

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Robbie, a young man on a community payback scheme trying to turn his life around for the sake of his newborn son, comes up with a plan to give him a financial head start. He recruits his fellow offenders to his caper.The Glasgow-set collaborations of Ken Loach and Paul Laverty always sit somewhere on a spectrum that runs between socialist realist politics and crowd-pleasing mischief. This outing sits more towards the crowd-pleasing end. As such, the young protagonist's underclass credentials are evidenced merely by his scars, tracksuit and chest-puffing in the face of his adversaries. His partner only ever speaks to him about pulling up his socks for their child; stilted, clunky exchanges that supply information and do nothing for characterisation. The young woman's thuggish family are cardboard cut-out neds who speak in clichés. So, characterisation is simplistic and dialogue always pure exposition. However, anyone looking for some pay off in the plot will be sorely disappointed. It is pretty obvious from the beginning how things will play out, with the exception of one genuinely surprising, and humanistic, twist. At one point Robbie is being chased by bad guys when his father-in-law incredulously appears like Batman in his Nedmobile to rescue him, before snarling more ned clichés at him. Paul Brannigan as Robbie has a certain look and charisma, but he can't act. The young actor's story, in many respects paralleling the character he plays, is touching, and perhaps Loach and Laverty are using cinema to smuggle in some kind of social rehabilitation programme for worthy but underprivileged young men. But one part of me wishes they'd use real actors, or at least send their discoveries to acting school before filming starts.As someone who grew up in inner-city Glasgow I always feel I *should* like these Loach/Laverty films, and wonder if my conflicted emotions come from the part of me that is Glasgow. But 'The Angel's Share' has made up my mind for me - these films are just below-par cinema. I get that the script is meant to be a fable, but not one line of dialogue stayed with me, or resonated to a deeper place. The characters, like those in 'My Name is Joe', are all meant to be lovable rapscallions, but the visceral violence that can be a very real event in Glasgow is not represented here, and the truly pitiful aspects of these young men's pathetic and self-destructive delusions about 'masculinity' require a complexity of portrayal that seems beyond these filmmakers. There is a psychology and dialectic at work that defies easy ideological explanation, but that ease is all Loach and Laverty ever reach for. Loach's so-called naturalistic directing is simply workmanlike camera-work that fails to add shade or depth to character. I can't think of one shot in this film that struck me as cinematic.I applaud the good intentions of Loach and Laverty, but their execution is sorely lacking. I think the praise they garner comes more from the middle class guilt of broadsheet critics, and the desperate relief of disenfranchised Glaswegians at ANY attempt at all to portray their lives on screen. Wooden acting, under-realised framing, and a flat, under-developed script - apart from a few chuckles at comments by dim-witted characters, what exactly is there to like here? What is this film doing that was not done by Bill Forsyth 30 years ago, only ten times better? These filmmakers need to be judged by the same standards that apply to the likes of Kevin Macdonald, Edgar Wright and Christopher Nolan. Glasgow is a great city that lends itself to cinema, and its people have a myriad of human tales to tell. It is a potential criminally untapped by Loach and Laverty.

The Angel's Share is a tale of struggle and hope through deprivation where there seems no way out. Robbie (Paul Brannigan) faces time behind bars for assault unless he can turn his life around. With no family, except for the one he is trying to create with his girlfriend, Robbie meets new friends while serving the community and a father figure in Harry (John Henshaw).Robbie first has to deal with his violent past as enemies are out for revenge while his girlfriend's father wants to get rid of him. Harry introduces him, and the other colourful juveniles, to a different side to Scotland through its heritage and national drink: Whisky! The making of in this case. Discovering a hidden nose for the dram Robbie becomes gripped by the Whisky connoisseur way of life so different from his own. He impresses Harry with his enthusiasm and skill and also a Whisky collector Thaddeus (Roger Allam). Robbie is himself impressed by a particularly rare malt being sold for a high price in the Highlands. Robbie decides he needs money for his new family and he needs it quick so he and his pals pack their bags, don their kilts and see what they can do about this vintage malt...I like the way Ken Loach makes films e.g. getting the script out only on the day of filming, as it creates spontaneity and real character from the actors. I thought Paul Brannigan was excellent for an amateur and brought his own troubled experiences through in a way that was genuine and heart-felt. I loved the characters in this film delivered by excellent comic actors with great timing. The Angel's Share is about struggle, friendship and Whisky so what's not to love? If I was trying to be funny at this point in the review I would say it's Glasgow's answer to Sideways (2004)...

This movie is very funny, we spend good time watching it. Characters are appealing and touching and we have lots of sympathy with them. We realize how it's important to believe in our dreams even we have many problems. I think this movie gives hope to everyone who feels desperate. I advise you all to watch it.This movie is very funny, we spend good time watching it. Characters are appealing and touching and we have lots of sympathy with them. We realize how it's important to believe in our dreams even we have many problems. I think this movie gives hope to everyone who feels desperate. I advise you all to watch it.

This is the first Ken Loach directed movie I have ever seen and I love it ! Rumour has it that it's not his best one; if that's true, I can't wait to see the others !! It is a great mix between comedy and drama, a bitter sweet comedy as they call it. The problem is that if you had asked me if I felt like watching a movie by an old English director I had never heard of, at the Sémaphore, well… I'd have answered very, very negatively. It seems to me that this movie is misclassified in the complicated/"grown-up" movies section because of Ken Loach's former movies and his political implication. As a matter of fact, watching the trailer was enough to convince me that I could enjoy it in spite of my preconceived ideas. (Albert's particularly funny, "Mona who ?!" ; "You're not gonna be sleeping again officer").About the movie itself, I think the actors are so talented and the dialogue is so efficient and real that it looks like a documentary ! The Scottish accent sounds really funny and authentic but sometimes I actually wonder if they meant to say something or if they were just making strange noises !!! The music is well chosen and I really like it; I remember hearing Homebird by Foy Vance and I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) by The Proclaimers. I can't say much more about it because a part of the audience obviously wasn't interested in watching the movie and therefore got really noisy and annoying short after its beginning which luckily didn't prevent me from having a great time :) .