The Angels' Share

Life isn’t half as grim in Ken Loach-land as his detractors would have you believe. For five decades his angry rallying cries against the ruling classes have been ballasted by warm humour. The socialist firebrand’s latest is a Glasgow-set comedy cum heist-movie about a quartet of community service ne’re-do-wells, led by Robbie (newcomer Paul Brannigan), a young man with a violent past and the battle scars to prove it, who endeavour to change their criminal ways – once they’ve knocked-off a priceless barrel of whisky, that is.

It’s a deeply humane story of second chances, but there’s a problem: Loach doesn’t trust comic pathos alone to communicate his message of redemption. Brutal antagonists (screenwriter Laverty’s Achilles’ heel) collide with the broad comedy with all the subtly of Eisenstein, while Loach’s strict adherence to a realist aesthetic makes the fairytale plot tough to swallow. Also unforgivable is the use of The Proclaimers on the soundtrack – twice. Yes, Ken, we do need roses with our bread, but easy on the cheese. [Jamie Dunn]