Sweet Sixteen Details

This grim but moving slice of life is the fourth collaboration between Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty. Of their previous films, it most resembles My Name Is Joe, in both the Scottish setting (in this case, the port of Greenock on the Firth of Clyde) and the unflinching way it addresses the limited choices facing those at the bottom of the heap. Liam, whose approaching birthday gives the film its title, is played with astonishing clarity and depth by non-professional actor Martin Compston. He is chasing the dream of a caravan for his currently imprisoned, ex-junkie mum, and, tragically, it is through drug-dealing that he hopes to pay for it — in the process crossing local gangsters and jeopardising relationships with his older sister and joyriding best pal, Pinball. Hopes may be systematically dashed in this unforgiving world, but Loach and Laverty invest maximum humanity in Liam, and it seems scandalous that an “18” certificate for strong language prevented teenagers of Liam's age from seeing the film at the cinema.

Grim story of crime offering the only hope of escape from a poverty-striken environment; the specificity of the setting and the performances make it more than special pleading.