Sweet Sixteen (2002)

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Movie
German title Sweet Sixteen
Original title Sweet Sixteen
Country of production Great Britain
Germany
Spain
original language English
Publishing year 2002
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Ken Loach
script Paul Laverty
production Rebecca O'Brien
music George Fenton
camera Barry Ackroyd
cut Jonathan Morris
occupation

Sweet Sixteen is a film directed by British director Ken Loach and shot in Scotland in 2002 .

action

Liam is about to turn 16. He lives in a rather shabby town near Glasgow; the shipyard crisis has left its mark. His mother Jean is in prison. Together with his stepfather Stan and his grandfather, he goes to visit her. Stan forces Liam to hide small packages of drugs in his mouth and smuggle them into the prison. There they are supposed to be resold by Jean, who used to be a drug addict herself, and Stan collects them from friends who live in freedom. However, Liam refuses because he doesn't want his mother caught doing it. As a result, the two men dragged him out of the car and beat him on the way back. Then they throw him out of the shared apartment. The boy finds shelter with his sister Chantelle, who already has a young son named Calum and loves her brother idolatrously, but despises his mother.

Liam's greatest wish is to be able to offer his mother a new life after her release from prison - one day before his 16th birthday. When he finds a trailer with a view of the Clyde, he does everything possible to make his dream come true. The 6,000 pounds he has to raise for this, however, he will not get together with the smuggled cigarettes, which he regularly sells.

But then he comes up with a crazy idea: he steals the heroin from his stepfather and sells it himself. Pinball, his best friend, helps him with this. This brings Liam into contact with the big dealers who see their chance. Liam gets a pizza delivery service as a disguise and can thus conduct his business much more easily. But this makes Liam what he despises in his stepfather: the dealer.

Pinball, on the other hand, does not go down well with the bosses, and in revenge he sets Liam's caravan on fire and drives the head dealer's sports car in his glamorous fitness center. When Liam is offered a new and completely furnished apartment for his mother by the owner, he does not hesitate to provide the expected consideration: “do” pinball.

When Liam's mother is released, he picks her up and surprises her with the new apartment. But she can only last one night and goes back to Stan the next morning. When Liam notices this, he sets off to get his mother back. Stan provokes him to the utmost until Liam loses his composure and stabs his stepfather with a knife.

A little later, Liam is walking sadly along the banks of the Clyde when suddenly his cell phone rings. His sister is on the other end of the line, telling him that the police are looking for him and have already been to her. Liam has failed and is caught in the same vicious circle as his mother and stepfather.

Reviews

  • The FAZ of June 24, 2003 says:
    “Loach and Laverty, unlike the teenage hero of 'Sweet Sixteen', do not succumb to their ideals. The social study from the run-down outskirts beyond Glasgow, where profitable shipyards were rotting away, is inexorable and partisan too - but it is never self-righteous. "
  • Die Zeit of June 26, 2003 writes:
    “In the combination of long shots and restless hand-held camera shots, Ken Loach creates a documentary aesthetic that approaches his hero with extreme caution. But the openness of the documentary form does not leave us in the dark about the direction in which the director wants to lead his story. The circumstances, he suggests, are often stronger than any will to change. In this cosmos, the rainbow that appears for a moment over the suburb is just as deceptive and pale as the glamor of the local mafioso. "
  • Die Welt from June 26, 2003 emphasizes:
    “Loach-like, the story is told with overwhelming authenticity, in sparse images and with the maximum possible acting potential. Just what Loach gets out of his leading actor Martin Compston - who has never stood in front of a camera before - is incredible. "
  • The taz of June 26, 2003 praised:
    “Above all, 'Sweet Sixteen' is likely to be the film in which Ken Loach first perfected his art of social realism. His renunciation of pathos has never been so relentless. He has never had such a fantastic script as that of his long-time colleague Paul Laverty, which focuses all the more lovingly on its main character. Yes, there is a lot of sweetness in this story and in the game of the street-cast Martin Compston, even if his rough Scottish slang has led to the subtitles that are now common in Great Britain and a completely unacceptable age limit of 18 and over. The title doesn't lie. You wouldn't have believed that Ken Loach would be ironic in his old age. "
  • epd Film , issue 7/2003 says:
    "Excellently played, gripping drama by Ken Loach that does without explicitly political statements."

Awards

Web links