The Old Oak Reviews (original) (raw)

It's as engrossing, thoughtful, heartfelt, angry, hopeful, and altogether valuable as his best work. If it is indeed Loach's farewell, it's one hell of a fine note to go out on.

The third part in a loose, geographically defined trilogy, as sensitively penned by Loach collaborator Paul Laverty, The Old Oak is a gentler film than the stark austerity painted by I, Daniel Blake or the chilling dissection of the gig economy in Sorry We Missed You. The film is, however, astute in its depiction of a disenfranchised community, ravaged by vulture property speculators and post-industrialisation.

A lack of familiarity can produce so many needless problems, especially when it involves individuals about whom we know little or nothing. That lack of understanding can consequently yield issues that plainly aren’t warranted and, more importantly, can be easily dispensed with by simply taking the time to find common ground. Such is the case in what is said to be the final film from legendary director Ken Loach, who tells the story **** of Syrian refugees who relocate and settle in an economically depressed former coal mining town in northern England. The locals, who themselves are struggling to get by, are far from welcoming to the new arrivals, who have essentially lost everything and are merely looking for a place to start over. In many respects, both constituencies have much in common, but their unfamiliarity with one another gets in the way, leading to friction between them, especially on the part of the town’s long-term residents, who feel they’re being crowded out and left behind. But hope is not lost, thanks to the efforts of the owner (Dave Turner) of the community’s principal local meeting place, a rundown pub called The Old Oak. He befriends one of the new arrivals, a young woman and would-be photographer (Ebla Mari), who manages to ingratiate herself into the lives of the barkeep and many other local residents. Their connection is not without its challenges, but the solidarity that emerges from it helps bring people together who might not do so otherwise. The style of filmmaking and narrative themes in this offering are classic Loach, recalling many of the works this prolific director has made for nearly 60 years, and, in many ways, it feels like the perfect send-off for this thought-provoking artist. Some story elements are, admittedly, rather predictable, and the ending feels somewhat truncated and abrupt, with a few story threads that aren’t fully resolved. Nevertheless, the filmmaker has made the kind of parting statement here that he’s been making in his other noteworthy works about the perils of the downtrodden, the need to help them and the necessity for fostering an intrinsic sense of fairness in the lives of us all. And what better way is there for a talent like Loach to say his last goodbye.

(Mauro Lanari) "If the workers realised the power that they have, had the confidence to use it, we could change the world. But we never did." The young eco-activists of "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" can easily be forgiven for their naivety, a little less so for an 87-year-old director who would like to relaunch social democracy by starting from communism. "God is dead. Marx is dead. And I don't feel so well myself": Eugène Ionesco, not Woody Allen. The twenty-year debate that followed "La conditione postmoderne" (Lyotàrd '79) clarified how serious this condition is: the saving hope in transcendental messianism is dead, that in techno-scientific progress is dead, that in a brighter sociopolitical tomorrow is dead, and even some of us are not feeling very well. The collectivism of the kolkhozes? Ask Gorbachev. The one from the kibbutzim? Ask Hamas. The last Moretti took refuge in the "what if movie" of a counterfactual reality. Loach takes refuge in a utopian ecumenism analogous to Benton's "Places in the Heart" ('84). I'll be lenient.

Loach and Laverty fervently argue that through solidarity and a recognition of real interests, British people can naturally show empathy to immigrants and refugees.

If Ken Loach has always erred on making his political views impossible to misconstrue, he also knows how to keep his dramas from spiraling too far outside of plausibility.

Loach is so cohesive here, in accommodating the expansiveness of all these social ills, that characters have an unfortunate tendency to become mouthpieces.

Ebla Mari, the actor who plays Yara, makes Yara’s despair over her missing and possibly murdered father, and her agony at having had to abandon her country, incredibly layered and precise. Her performance doesn’t allow us to phone in our empathy.

It’s not enough for Loach and Laverty to have their hearts so reliably in the right place. The Old Oak is sluggishly predictable in plot, but also sharply unsatisfying at the end.

Depois de se aventurar por "Sorry We Missed You", no qual Ken Loach fará um estudo do cidadão trumpista comum, em "Old oak" o cineasta assume de vez o lado progressista ao pintar um discurso antixenofóbico muito bem vindo em tempos de globalização pós-pandêmica. O "Old oak" é um velho pub contendo os reaças de um lado e os estrangeiros de outro. Mas o grande problema aqui é aquilo a que "Saudosa maloca", por exemplo, tentou trabalhar e romper com êxito: ser mais cinema. Basicamente o filme do Loach se apega a diálogos, e no máximo o que temos é uma briga à mesa de bar (bem forçada). Tirando uma ou outra imagem externa de protesto, sobra aos protagonistas fazerem caras e bocas e abusar dos cansativos diálogos. Uma pena.

It's not a good film. It could have taken things in a different and more interesting direction by pointing out how when industries leave an area, the area suffers. But instead it would rather go full political. It's plays out like BBC propaganda that takes a very one-sided approach to tackling a complicated issue. It handles almost all of the locals as either poor & thick or outright horrible people. And all of the asylum seekers as the moral good. In reality it's just not that simple and putting out a film like this to try and sway people into this naïve way of thinking isn't acceptable or morally justifiable. It's very irresponsible of the scriptwriters, the production company and the director, especially with how this covers real issues that have flared up in the UK recently. If you want an idea of who's behind this film then you might be interested to hear that two of the actors in this film mascaraed as "working class" people to Gatecrash a reform uk event, despite having several high paid acting gigs under their belt.

Production Company StudioCanal UK, Sixteen Films, Why Not Productions, BBC Film, Les Films du Fleuve

Release Date Apr 5, 2024

Duration 1 h 53 m

Tagline It's not where you're from. It's what you bring.

Valladolid International Film Festival

• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations

Palic Film Festival

• 1 Win & 2 Nominations

Palm Springs International Film Festival

• 1 Win & 2 Nominations