The 28th feature directed by renowned British filmmaker Ken Loach follows a once-vibrant mining town’s response to the arrival of a group of Syrian refugees. TJ, the amiable proprietor of the titular pub – the last meeting point left in town – struggles to keep his more narrow-minded local clientele amid prejudice as he befriends these new residents, in particular a Syrian photographer, Yara. As he has over his six-decade career, Loach gives compassionate voice to the oppressed – both the Syrian migrants as well as the out-of-work locals — in this, the concluding chapter of his Northeast England trilogy (following I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You) and his self-proclaimed final film.
Laemmle Theatres is proud to open The Old Oak this Friday, April 12 at the Royal, Town Center and Claremont and April 19 at our Glendale theater.
“It’s as engrossing, thoughtful, heartfelt, angry, hopeful, and altogether valuable as his best work. If it is indeed Loach’s farewell, it’s one hell of a fine note to go out on.” ~ Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“With The Old Oak, Ken Loach goes out with one last, full-throated call for brotherhood and solidarity. It’s the most hopeful the old soldier’s been in years.” ~ Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture
“A film as fired up and human as any you’ll see this year.” – Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
“Ken Loach’s fierce final call for compassion and solidarity… He is the fierce plain-speaker of political indignation with a style that is unironised and unadorned… It is a filmmaking language utterly without the cynical twang that is de rigueur for everyone else…I hope that this isn’t Loach’s final film, but if it is, he has concluded with a ringing statement of faith in compassion for the oppressed.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)
“[Loach] could hardly have delivered a more resonant, timely or indeed angry swansong than this feature which takes up arms against the decay of national compassion.” – Jonathan Romney, Screen International
“What Loach adds to this scenario, as he’s done in most of his films, is a natural intimacy that goes beyond the issues to bring something human and emotional to the table… Working with screenwriter Paul Laverty, who’s been the auteur’s trusted scribe ever since Carla’s Song in 1996, Loach builds up to such emotional high points through a slow-burn narrative that sets up all the conflicts and then has them play out as naturally as possible…as if he were capturing real life as it happened, with cinematographer Robbie Ryan (American Honey) adding a dose of warmth and color to the drab town setting.” – Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
“A poignant and moving coda to a career spent chronicling personal indignities amid broader social ills like poverty and unemployment.” ~ Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press
“In place of magical thinking and a happy ending, “The Old Oak” serves up something harder: a meditation on hope.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times
“The chemistry between Turner and Mari leads to a relationship rarely seen in cinema.” ~ Sophie Monks Kaufman, indieWire
“The film unfolds with a fierce crackle. And a wide lens is in play alongside the micro close-up.” ~ Danny Leigh, Financial Times
“Loach’s faith in the human capacity for empathy prevails in the end. Best of all, he brings off this optimistic flourish without the taint of sentimentality.” ~ Sandra Hall, Sydney Morning Herald