''Looks and Smiles'' is a 1981 British
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Ken Loach. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by
Barry Hines. The film was entered into the
1981 Cannes Film Festival, where Loach won the Young Cinema Award.
In an interview for the book ''Loach on Loach'', the director said that the title of the film is taken from a line from
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
: "How did girls attract boys when they were young? In the usual way - with looks and smiles."
Plot
A disadvantaged young man tries to get by in
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
'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
Anthony Pitts (born 10 October 1962) is an English actor, most notable for playing Archie Brooks in the long-running British soap '' Emmerdale Farm'' between 1983 and 1993.
Early life
Pitts was born in Sheffield, England. His family was wo ...
- 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
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
.[Leigh, Jacob (2002), ''The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People'', Wallflower Press, , p.130] 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
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' 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".[Leigh, Jacob (2002), ''The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People'', Wallflower Press, , p.118] 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
A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic nation ...
'' or '' Land and Freedom''[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]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Looks And Smiles
1981 films
1981 drama films
British drama films
British black-and-white films
Films directed by Ken Loach
Films scored by Marc Wilkinson
Films set in Sheffield
Films shot in South Yorkshire
Films about social realism
1980s English-language films
1980s British films
Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
Films based on works by Barry Hines
Films based on British novels