Film Reviews by JB

This is a brief comment rather than a review. Never Look Away held my attention throughout, despite its length : the same cannot be said of many films recently...... I though Tom Schillings performance excellent in its slight understatement, and the film's given me a whole new appreciation of Gerhard Richter. I'd give it four and  half - agree, I suppose ,about the lack of develop of his relationship with Ellie but could see why there wasn't room for this in the structure of the movie as a whole. And I will remember it. 

Don't forget this is a debut film. He's feeling his way. And nobody seems to have commented on his use of our rather ancient board game, which seems to me delightful . The slow speed is half the point : like OP below, I too found it captivating and shall take it down to my (considerably younger) family next Christmas, to test out the proposition that it's not merely a movie for oldies. Nor merely a vehicle for Bill Nighy, although it suits him very well.

Ken Loaches' last film dealt with the iniquities of the current benefits system and its administration. This one takes on the gig economy and the zero hours contract culture, and for good measure the low pay and appalling conditions of service of  home care workers. Both parents in this movie about a family must work - as is the usual case today - and both sets of problems they face at work are different aspects of a collapsing late capitalist society poorly and chaotically governed and hopelessly  lacking in compassion. Loach shows us how these conditions impact on family life and in so doing how they destroy the 'family values' still endorsed by rightwing governments  - which have lost their way but not achieved insight into the level of hypocrisy which somehow sustains them. It wouldn't be right to call Sorry I Missed You enjoyable. It is very sad in its accurate portrayal of the lives of very many people in the UK today.