Legendary British director, Ken Loach returns to Cannes 2022 with new film The Old Oak – keeping the ‘social comment’ genre alive.
REALISM in cinema is all about everyday people and situations. It highlights the social structures that reinforce bleak conditions, maintains focus on family, and celebrate community solidarity.
It all started with The Lumiere Brothers, who were pioneers of motion pictures developed specifically for large audiences. Their films introduced realism into cinema. From the use of available light (often just sunlight) to working with non-professional actors and the use of existing buildings and outdoor locations for shooting in favour of fancy sets.
An early script by another filmmaker, Vittorio De Sica, reads… “A man needs to find a job in order to feed his family. He is offered a job, but he needs to own a bicycle for transportation. He and his wife pawn everything to buy a bicycle. He gets the bicycle and goes to work. But on his very first day of work, it gets stolen. Now he must find the bicycle.”
That is the first 10 minutes of his 1948 classic, Ladri di Biciclette aka Bicycle Thieves. This iconic film was shot on the streets of Italy with people who had never acted before, using just a camera on a tripod and a bare light kit.
Realism has always been an important part of British cinema and I think it has been Britain’s richest gift to world cinema. In the past, social realism has served as a stepping stone for British filmmakers.
British cinema has seen great ‘realism’ directors such as John Schlesinger, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz, Andrea Arnold, Lynne Ramsay, Mike Leigh, and Shane Meadows who produced some of the most iconic films.
But when it comes to keeping things real today, Ken Loach is in a league of his own. Known for his provocative politics and his focus on working-class lives, Loach is the foremost representative of realism drama in Britain.
He has given us some iconic classics including 1969s Kes, a film that won critical acclaim at the time of its release and still exerts its influence on British cinema. Kes offers a view into the world of a fifteen-year-old boy in Yorkshire, whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from his challenging life. Loach’s film pushed British cinema into a new realm of authenticity, using real locations and non-professional actors.
Loach’s I, Daniel Black (2016) which deals with the very real and important issue of inequality in the British social welfare system – took the top prize at Cannes and gave him the biggest box office hit of his career. It also sparked debate in parliament and elsewhere.
These are just a couple of examples of Loach’s work. He has been making films for more than fifty years now and has carried the torch for social comment in British cinema, which concentrates on every day, usually working-class subjects.
In recent years, social realism has become somewhat of an unsexy genre in cinema, squeezed out at the box office by more escapist films. I feel realism is slowly fading away in British cinema.
Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz who gave us classics like – Look Back in Anger, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey, and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – deserted Britain in favour of Hollywood. Andrea Arnold who created films like Fish Tank and Red Road by using her own life experiences also started working in the US. Even Mike Leigh, once a dependable fixture like Loach, has spent the past decade making historical dramas.
However, Shane Meadows is still in the league, but he has recently only operated on the small screen. In my opinion, 85-year-old Loach is practically the last man standing now.
In 2014, Ken Loach already announced his retirement but in 2016, he came back with I, Daniel Black, and later in Cannes 2019, he unleashed another film Sorry We Missed You. And now, he will launch his new project The Old Oak at the Cannes 2022.
According to release details, The Old Oak is set in an old coal-mining village whose economic frameworks have been completely destabilised after all the mines shut down. A striking portrait of the contrast between the tired elders who are clinging on to their fading values and the disillusioned youth, it promises to be a fantastic cinematic experience.
It seems like Loach doesn’t have any plan to slow down his production yet and we will continue enjoying his blockbusters. He’s the David Attenborough of British cinema. He’ll undoubtedly continue to focus on ‘realism’ films; there’s only one fear – what will happen when he goes?