Looks and Smiles

Plot

A disadvantaged young man tries to get by in Margaret Thatcher's England. Writing in his book The Cinema of Ken Loach, Jacob Leigh comments: "Looks and Smiles reveals the depression people felt in the industrial North of England in the 1980s; but it is as depressing as Mick's life. ... Loach's characteristic attention to detail renders the film a period piece."

Cast

• Graham Green - Michael 'Mick' Walsh
• Carolyn Nicholson - Karen Lodge
• Tony Pitts - Alan Wright
• Roy Haywood - Phil
• Phil Askham - Mr. Walsh
• Pam Darrell - Mrs. Walsh
• Tracey Goodlad - Julie
• Patti Nicholls - Mrs. Wright
• Cilla Mason - Mrs. Lodge
• Les Hickin - George
• Arthur Davies - Eric Lodge
• Deirdre Costello - Jenny (as Deidre Costello)
• Jackie Shinn - Gatekeeper
• Christine Francis - Careers Officer
• Rita May - Receptionist

Production

The film was shot in black-and-white entirely on location in Sheffield. There is some Yorkshire dialect in the film, although not as much as in previous Loach-Hines collaborations such as Kes and The Price of Coal.

Release

Critical reception

A review in The New York Times gave the film a positive review and praised the acting, but complained about Loach's policy of using the actors' natural accents on the grounds that "a great deal of the dialogue remains unintelligible to the American ear."

A 2016 Guardian article wrote, "Even the most devoted fan found 1981’s Looks & Smiles painfully miserable".

When asked why he was unhappy with the film in an interview for Loach on Loach, Ken Loach said, "It's too lethargic and gently-paced and when I think about it now I want to give it a kick up the arse."

Aftermath

Ken Loach considered the film a failure and turned to making documentaries for several years afterwards, saying that the film failed to "create the outrage in the audience that should have been there". He also considered it "the end of an era" as he avoided long camera shots in subsequent films. In support of the film, it has been held up as one of Ken Loach's film that does not propagate one political view heavily, as opposed to Fatherland or Land and Freedom

References

References

1. "Festival de Cannes: Looks and Smiles". festival-cannes.com.
2. Fuller, Graham. (1998). "Loach on Loach". Faber & Faber.
3. [[Jacob Leigh. Leigh, Jacob]] (2002), ''The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People'', Wallflower Press, {{ISBN. 978-1903-36432-1, p.130
4. Canby, Vincent. (5 October 1981). "KENNETH LOACH'S 'LOOKS AND SMILES'". The New York Times.
5. Hattenstone, Simon. (15 October 2016). "Ken Loach: 'If you're not angry, what kind of person are you?'". The Guardian.
6. Fuller, Graham. (1998). "Loach on Loach". Faber & Faber.
7. Leigh, Jacob (2002), ''The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People'', Wallflower Press, {{ISBN. 978-1903-36432-1, p.142
8. Leigh, Jacob (2002), ''The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People'', Wallflower Press, {{ISBN. 978-1903-36432-1, p.118
9. http://tech.mit.edu/V109/N28/looks.28a.html MIT The Tech: Volume 109 >> Issue 28 : Tuesday, June 27, 1989, ''Kenneth Loach's Looks and Smiles movingly informs British working class''
10. https://libcom.org/library/dubious-virtues-propaganda-ken-loachs-land-freedom-gilles-dauv%C3%A9 The dubious virtues of propaganda: Ken Loach's "Land and Freedom" - Gilles Dauvé 2014