Ken Loach on the set of what might be his final film, The Old Oak (photo © 2023 Filmcoopi)
KEN LOACH
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
April 19 – May 2
212-727-8110
filmforum.org
British filmmaker Ken Loach’s The Old Oak opened at Film Forum on April 5, the conclusion to his Northeast England trilogy, following I, Daniel Blake, and Sorry We Missed You. Loach, a social realist who turns eighty-eight in June, has said that The Old Oak will be his final work, which would mark the end of a brilliant career that included twenty-eight films. Film Forum will be presenting twenty-one of those films in a retrospective tribute running April 19 through May 2, from his debut, 1967’s Poor Cow to 1991’s Riff-Raff, 1996’s Carla’s Song, 2000’s Bread and Roses, and 2013’s The Spirit of ’45. Below is a look at two of the highlights.
Cillian Murphy stars in Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (Ken Loach, 2006)
Saturday, April 20, 5:20
Thursday, April 25, 3:00
Saturday, April 27, 7:40
Tuesday, April 30, 8:10
filmforum.org
Winner of the 2006 Palme d’Or at Cannes, The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a brutal masterpiece from director Ken Loach (Family Life, Raining Stones). It’s 1920, and the English black and tans are running roughshod through Ireland, leaving broken and dead bodies in their wake as they keep the population frightened and in poverty. But poorly armed yet determined local guerrilla armies are forming, prepared to fight for freedom in their homeland. In one small town, Damien (Cillian Murphy) is getting ready to move to London to train as a doctor, but he decides instead to join the burgeoning Irish Republican Army after seeing one too many bloody beatings.
Swearing their loyalty to the cause and led by Damien’s brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney), they set up ambushes of British forces, gathering weapons in a desperate attempt to win back their country. Damien also falls for Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald), one of many women who work as messengers and spies and run safe houses. But when a questionable treaty is signed, loyalty is tested and families torn apart. Written by Paul Laverty and also featuring Liam Cunningham, Mary Riordan, Myles Horgan, and Mary Murphy, The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a fierce, no-holds-barred, if one-sided, look at a violent conflict that has lasted for centuries.
Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) gets some advice from his hero, football star Eric Cantona (Eric Cantona)
LOOKING FOR ERIC (Ken Loach, 2010)
Sunday, April 21, 7:50
Friday, April 26, 8:20
filmforum.org
With his life in freefall, postal employee Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) gazes up at his poster of soccer legend Eric Cantona and wonders what the Manchester United star would do – and then, like magic, Cantona (played by Cantona himself) appears in his room, to lend advice and help him through his myriad problems. Reminiscent of how Bogie (Jerry Lacy) guides Allan (Woody Allen) in Play It Again, Sam, Cantona hangs out with Bishop, talking about how he dealt with adversity on the field and off and sharing joints while discussing life. Bishop’s stepsons don’t listen to him, his second wife has left him, and he ends up in the hospital after driving the wrong way through a traffic circle. But his close group of motley friends – Spleen (Justin Moorhouse), Jack (Des Sharples), Monk (Greg Cook), Judge (Mick Ferry), Smug (Smug Roberts), Travis (Johnny Travis), and leader Meatballs (John Henshaw) – stick by him through thick and thin, especially when his son Ryan (Gerard Kearns) gets into serious trouble with a local gangster (Steve Marsh).
A light-hearted, tender comedy that turns somewhat goofy at the end, Looking for Eric was directed by British iconoclast Ken Loach, who has previously offered up such tales as Kes, Riff-Raff, Carla’s Song, and The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Loach and screenwriting partner Paul Laverty were looking for a sweet, innocent film to make when Cantona actually approached them with an idea that they turned into Looking for Eric, a nod to such charmers as Waking Ned Devine and The Full Monty that includes clips of many of Cantona’s most spectacular goals as well as his infamous farewell press conference.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]