Review of The Angels' Share (2012) by Aaron S — 01 Jun 2012

A few bloopers here and there, like when Robbie (Paul Brannigan) has just gotten beaten up by his partners relatives in the hospital, though he was lying face down with a heavily bleeding nose, when he got up no blood was to be see on the ground. Focus seemed heavily out at points (Hospital washroom scene with Robbie and Harry) where the camera hunted for focus during a conversation between the two. The cast was brilliant, particularly John Henshaw who played the samaritan (Harry), the friend, the helper in a very natural way. Ken Loach is a genius, his films are not polished, The Angels Share certainly isnt, but its the story that counts, and this story was fun. The film was in to parts, the gritty deprived start and the very Scottishy second half with plenty of laughter and mischief in Whisky Country. I think Gary Maitland played the best character overall, though I thought the script took it a bit too far, made him look just that little bit too stupid. I was surprised to see Jimmy Chisholm (Parahandy, Taggart, Rab C Nesbitt) in a minor role yet he was quite happy, its nice to see familiar faces in there.

Ken Loach is not the usual run of the mill commercial director. The characters and extras, many of whom were in their real attire and vocation (The Auctioneer, Photographers, Whisky Master) are lead into their roles, lead into the story, so that when the actual scenes are shot and recorded onto film, they forget they are on film and are in their designated acting roles. Ken makes people laugh, puts people at ease, many times when you see the cast laugh nobody has told them to do this, Ken has almost spreads a wad of Hypnosis over his "victims", making the work easier for everyone since acting becomes easier and natural due to the elusion of reality.

In the cinema I noticed a lot of elderly in the audience, I dont know why this was, the trailers and ads were aimed not at the elderly, though I suspect the word Whisky made some of them want to go see it, what with the flatmade drinking spit and the words including C*** being repeated (And others) I noticed a lot of them appeared visually horrified. This is a cult film, once the younger audience get a hold of it, its going to be a classic. I do hope this is one of many more upbeat films by Ken Loach.