''The Angels' Share'' is a 2012

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

and starring

Paul Brannigan Paul Brannigan (born 14 September 1986) is a Scottish actor best known for his roles as Gareth O'Connor in Scottish soap opera ''River City'' and as Robbie in the film ''The Angels' Share'' (2012). Brannigan also appeared in the 2013 movie '' U ...

John Henshaw John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''Early Doors'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''Born and Bred'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are ...

, and

William Ruane William Ruane (born 1985) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Sweet Sixteen'' (2002) and '' The Angels' Share'' (2012), and in the soap opera ''River City''. Career Ruane was born in Glasgow and raised in the ...

. Set in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, it tells the story of a young father who narrowly avoids a prison sentence. He is determined to turn over a new leaf and when he and his friends from the same community payback group visit a whisky

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

, a route to a new life becomes apparent. The title is from "

the angels' share ''The Angels' Share'' is a 2012 comedy-drama film directed by Ken Loach and starring Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, and William Ruane. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, it tells the story of a young father who narrowly avoids a prison sentence. He is de ...

", a term for the portion (share) of a whisky's volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels.

Plot

In the opening scenes, the protagonists are sentenced to hours of

community payback Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

. During his first community payback session, Robbie (Paul Brannigan), under the guidance of Harry (John Henshaw), is interrupted and taken to the hospital by Harry as his girlfriend, Leonie (Siobhan Reilly), has gone into labour. At the hospital, Robbie is assaulted by two of his girlfriend's uncles and her dad (Gilbert Martin) before he can see her. Harry takes Robbie back to his house to clean him up, at which point Leonie calls to announce Robbie's son, Luke, has been born. Harry insists that he and Robbie celebrate, and brings out a vintage whisky. With Leonie's encouragement, Robbie agrees to meet with a victim of his former violent crimes, Anthony (Roderick Cowie), who recollects the attack in front of both his family and Leonie. Afterwards, Leonie makes clear that she does not want her son to grow up around violence and long-term feuds. Harry takes the group to a distillery as a reward for their good behaviour, where they learn what "

" is. Afterwards, the tour guide gives them each a dram of whisky and asks them to smell it, and Robbie is complimented on his ability to identify flavours. Mo (Jasmin Riggins) steals several miniatures from the gift shop. Robbie, Mo, Rhino (

) and Albert (Gary Maitland) get together later for their own

whisky tasting Whisky tasting is the analysis of whisky through visual examination, taste and aroma. Whisky tastings are often conducted in groups of people, either for reference purposes or as a social activity. More recently, whisky tastings have become a vi ...

with the stolen miniatures. However, Robbie is still being pursued by his old enemy, Clancy (

Scott Kyle Scott James Kyle (born 27 June 1983), is a Scottish actor, best known for his roles as Ross in '' Outlander'', Clancy in ''The Angels' Share,'' and Corporal Stu Pearson in the film '' Kajaki: The True Story (Kilo Two Bravo).'' Kyle received the 2 ...

). He is about to undergo a beating by Clancy and his followers when he is unexpectedly rescued by Leonie's father. Robbie pleads to be given one last chance but the older man tells him that it's too late, and even if he wanted to change, he cannot escape the feuds and violence of the world he grew up in. Leonie's father tells him that the only way for him to escape the cycle is to leave Glasgow altogether and go to London, but without Leonie. He offers Robbie £5,000 to sweeten the deal and leaves Robbie to think it over. At the next community service session, Harry asks Robbie if he'd like to come to a whisky tasting in Edinburgh. Mo overhears and invites herself, Albert and Rhino. Reluctantly, Harry agrees to take all four of them to Edinburgh, where they learn about a cask of priceless whisky, the Malt Mill, set to go on auction soon, and Robbie is passed a

business card Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company or business aff ...

by a whisky collector, Thaddeus (Roger Allam). After they leave, Mo reveals she spotted and stole documents detailing the warehouse in which the "Malt Mill" is kept but Robbie tells her that he is not interested in crime and is determined to stay straight for the sake of Leonie and Luke. Robbie and Leonie view a flat which they could rent for six months while the owner is away. Robbie seems touched but it is then revealed they have been followed by one of Clancy's men and Clancy will know where they are going to live. Robbie, realising that he can't continue living under threat of assault on himself and his family, begins planning to steal the Malt Mill with his community service partners. They secure an invitation to the tasting and auction, during which Robbie slopes off to the warehouse to siphon some of the whisky into empty Irn-Bru bottles, before he is interrupted by Thaddeus and Angus Dobie (David Goodall). Robbie covertly witnesses Thaddeus attempting to bribe Dobie into selling him some of the whisky before the cask goes on auction but he refuses and the two leave, after which Robbie then tops up the cask with cheaper whisky from an adjacent cask. At the auction, the group see Thaddeus outbid by an American, who tastes the cask, and is apparently happy with the slightly diluted blend. Afterwards, Robbie approaches Thaddeus and negotiates a sale of three bottles for £200,000, and "a real job". They plan to make the exchange in Glasgow, and so begin the trek home, but inadvertently break two of their four bottles during an encounter with the police. Robbie is furious, but goes ahead with meeting Thaddeus, and negotiates a sale for £100,000 and a permanent job far away from Glasgow. Afterwards, Robbie reveals to his friends that he didn't sell two bottles, but one. The scene cuts to show Harry coming home to find a bottle of Irn Bru sitting on his kitchen table next to an open window, with a note thanking him for giving him a chance, and not giving up on him and presenting his "angels' share", next to a newspaper piece showing a photo of the community payback group next to the cask. He smells the bottle and rejoices gleefully at the Malt Mill inside. In the final scene, we see Robbie and Leonie leave for Stirling in an immaculate old Volkswagen Type 2, having made temporary goodbyes to the rest of the group. After they leave, the rest of the group resolve to go get wasted. The film ends with The Proclaimers' "

500 Miles "500 Miles" (also known as "500 Miles Away from Home" or "Railroaders' Lament") is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home ...

" playing.

Cast

as Robbie *

as Harry *

Gary Maitland Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

as Albert *

Jasmin Riggins Jasmin may refer to: Plants *''Gardenia jasminoides'', also called gardenia *''Jasminocereus'', a genus of cacti *''Jasminum officinale'', the flowering plant commonly called jasmine *''Solanum laxum'', syn. Solanum jasminoides People * Jasm ...

as Mo *

as Rhino * Roger Allam as Thaddeus * David Goodall as Dobie *

Siobhan Reilly Siobhán is a female given name of Irish origin. The most common anglicisations are Siobhan (identical to the Irish spelling but omitting the acute accent over the 'a'), Shevaun and Shivaun. A now uncommon spelling variant is Siubhán. It is de ...

as Leonie * Roderick Cowie as Anthony *

as Clancy * Neil Leiper as Sniper *

Gilbert Martin Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

as Matt

Production

The film was produced by Sixteen Films, Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch. It was backed financially by the BFI, Les Films du Fleuve, Urania and France 2 Cinéma. Filming in Glasgow and Edinburgh started 25 April 2011.

Release

The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...

, and Loach won the Jury Prize. It is Loach's 11th film in 31 years to compete at the French festival.

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

acquired the distribution rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland, where the film went on general release on 1 June.

Critical reception

''The Angels' Share'' was met with critical acclaim. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on a sample of 101 reviews, with a rating average of 7.1 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 66 based on 26 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film was nominated for the Magritte Award for Best Foreign Film in Coproduction and at the

won the Jury Prize (the third-most prestigious prize at the film festival).

Home media

Entertainment One released ''The Angels' Share'' on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

and DVD on 24 September 2012, in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Angels Share, The 2012 films 2012 in Scotland 2012 comedy-drama films Belgian comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films English-language Scottish films English-language Belgian films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films scored by George Fenton Films about alcoholic drinks Films directed by Ken Loach Films set in Edinburgh Films set in Glasgow Films shot in Argyll and Bute Films shot in Edinburgh Films shot in Glasgow Films shot in Highland (council area) French comedy-drama films British heist films Italian comedy-drama films Scots-language films Scottish comedy films 2010s British films 2010s French films