Sorry We Missed You

"Sorry We Missed You" is an exceptional film from British director Ken Loach that I recently saw at the Philadelphia Film Festival. It's amazingly realistic and powerful....as well as incredibly sad and depressing. This is NOT a criticism...more just to let you know that it's anything but a 'feel good' sort of movie.

The story is about a working class family in crisis. The father worked 90 hour weeks as a delivery man. His boss is completely unsympathetic and hard...like a rock. The wife is also working 12-14 hour days and together they barely get by. But, because they are barely home, it's taking a huge emotional and physical toll on them as well as the family. Through the course of the film, you see these decent people fall apart....and there doesn't seem to be any answer for their predicament.

This movie was brilliant in that the actors seemed nothing like conventional actors....they were REAL. But, unlike non-professional actors, they were convincing and extremely effective. I applaud them and Loach for delivering a film that makes you think and feel....and challenges your preconceptions about the fairness and decency in the modern economy. A film not to be missed...unless you are depressed. If you do suffer from clinical depression or your life has been hard lately....maybe you might want to skip this one.

Documentary drama from Ken Loach.

The real life struggles of real people struggling to make ends meet after the financial crash. This is about a family in desperate situations, who are financially and time poor. He's a hardworking self-employed delivery driver, she's an overstretched care worker. Both very demanding jobs, their lives are hard, and their kids are neglected. A serious story for current times, though there are no references to Brexit or politics generally.

If you've seen 'I, Daniel Blake' then you'll have a good idea what to expect, though this isn't about benefits. This is more about what happens when there are no workers' rights. Recommended.

Very moving and beautifully executed story. It's more tragedy than drama, but sets modern life into perspective.

Ken Loach films are always on point, no matter the issues and societal ills being explored. Sorry We Missed You takes its audience into the life of a family whose circumstances result in both parents being at the mercy of zero hours contracts and corporate misuse of self employment to exploit their workforce for bigger profits. Its a sad indictment of our society and the gig economy which journeys more and more towards placing higher value on the pursuit of profit over the lives and well being of ordinary working class people. Anyone who buys on line and has your parcel delivered to your door or has relatives who rely on paid carers should watch this film to fully appreciate what they do for us and the sacrifices and hardships they may be facing.

Ken Loach, great director of working class movies, gifts an awesome political art-work to the audience, again.

The movie doesn't say any directly political word or doesn't picture any agitative scene. But, it really strikes the audience and reflects hard reality of actual daily life in U.K. Within a plain narration (however much more harder than "I, Daniel Blake") and masterfully avoiding a catharsis final, Loach tells great majorities' pity lives;

-. Flexible working conditions instead of officially regular work hours

-. Ambigious labour shifts which comprise no stable daily break-time or weekly holiday

-. obligations of unemployment and debts to consent those terrible working conditions.

-. the one can't find any time for the family, friends or any leisure avtivity and could easily transform to a non-sensual monster... Loach, with no boring narration and without a huge agitation, tells an ordinary family's very realistic and sentimental story.

I think every audience will leave the theatre with a high anger to the capitalist system!!! Thank you, Ken Loach!!!