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Which Side are You On?: Ken Loach and His Films
Making groundbreaking dramas for the BBC's "Wednesday Play" series in the 1960s, Ken Loach was one of the first to show life as it was really lived. With the film Kes, the director established an international reputation. After falling on hard times in the 1980s, he then made a feature-film revival that was little short of remarkable, with masterpieces such as Land and Freedom, Carla's Song and Sweet Sixteen. Anthony Hayward's book shows how Loach's films have made folk heroes of both actors and their characters—Ricky Tomlinson taking his experiences of the building trade and its scams to Riff-Raff, David Bradley as the schoolboy consigned to a life down the pit in Kes, and Peter Mullan drawing on memories of his father's alcoholism in My Name is Joe. It also reveals the influence on Loach of a father who was fanatical about education, the socialist politics that drive his work, and the long-running collaborations with writers and producers such as Jim Allen, Barry Hines, Tony Garnett, and Rebecca O'Brien.
- GenresBiography
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 8, 2015
THE LIFE AND FILMS OF KEN LOACH
Anthony Hayward's "Which Side Are You On?" is a look at the life and work of veteran British film-maker Ken Loach. Loach first came to the publics attention in the mid-60's with his working class dramas that were broadcast on the BBC's Wednesday Plays strand. Fame came with the highly regarded "Cathy Come Home" which provoked an unprecedented level of public debate on homelessness and housing. By 1969 he was directing his first feature film "Kes" (an adaptation of Barry Hines "A Kestrel for a Knave") achieving a remarkable amount of popular success as well as critical acclaim.
Hayward's book primarily focuses on Loach's work though he still finds space to chart the main events of his private life as well as his long standing involvement in socialist politics. Each film or television drama is looked at in chronological order, with the whole process from the germination of the idea to the reception of the finished work clearly looked at. Most interesting is how Loach selects actors and the methods by which he immerses them in their roles, and the tricks (literally) that he uses to bring out a realistic, apparently spontaneous and heartfelt performances from them. Another important subject is Loach's close working relationships with his screenwriters, a relatively small number collaborated with him during his fifty year career.
Through looking at his work Hayward charts that career from its early blossoming during the 60's and early 70's, to rougher times in the 80's when film finance for the type of films he wished to make was unattainable. On top of that a number of his works, particularly documentaries, were essentially censored by the higher echelons of the television industry, forcing him into doing advertisements including (and to his eternal regret) one for McDonald's to make ends meet. Thankfully things picked up in the 90's and from then onwards he made a remarkable number of successful films including his heart-rending story of a woman losing her children to the social services "Ladybird Ladybird" (twenty years on I can still recall stumbling out of the municipal cinema mute and shellshocked after seeing it) to his big budget production (£2.75m!) "Land and Freedom" which brought to film the civil war within the Spanish Civil War between the Communists and the Catalonian Anarchists.
"Which Side Are You On?" works as a readable and sympathetic introduction to a remarkable film-maker and his work for the general reader. It's a measure of Haywards success that he's whetted my appetite to re-watch the Loach work I've seen before, and to catch up on those I've missed.
Anthony Hayward's "Which Side Are You On?" is a look at the life and work of veteran British film-maker Ken Loach. Loach first came to the publics attention in the mid-60's with his working class dramas that were broadcast on the BBC's Wednesday Plays strand. Fame came with the highly regarded "Cathy Come Home" which provoked an unprecedented level of public debate on homelessness and housing. By 1969 he was directing his first feature film "Kes" (an adaptation of Barry Hines "A Kestrel for a Knave") achieving a remarkable amount of popular success as well as critical acclaim.
Hayward's book primarily focuses on Loach's work though he still finds space to chart the main events of his private life as well as his long standing involvement in socialist politics. Each film or television drama is looked at in chronological order, with the whole process from the germination of the idea to the reception of the finished work clearly looked at. Most interesting is how Loach selects actors and the methods by which he immerses them in their roles, and the tricks (literally) that he uses to bring out a realistic, apparently spontaneous and heartfelt performances from them. Another important subject is Loach's close working relationships with his screenwriters, a relatively small number collaborated with him during his fifty year career.
Through looking at his work Hayward charts that career from its early blossoming during the 60's and early 70's, to rougher times in the 80's when film finance for the type of films he wished to make was unattainable. On top of that a number of his works, particularly documentaries, were essentially censored by the higher echelons of the television industry, forcing him into doing advertisements including (and to his eternal regret) one for McDonald's to make ends meet. Thankfully things picked up in the 90's and from then onwards he made a remarkable number of successful films including his heart-rending story of a woman losing her children to the social services "Ladybird Ladybird" (twenty years on I can still recall stumbling out of the municipal cinema mute and shellshocked after seeing it) to his big budget production (£2.75m!) "Land and Freedom" which brought to film the civil war within the Spanish Civil War between the Communists and the Catalonian Anarchists.
"Which Side Are You On?" works as a readable and sympathetic introduction to a remarkable film-maker and his work for the general reader. It's a measure of Haywards success that he's whetted my appetite to re-watch the Loach work I've seen before, and to catch up on those I've missed.
May 28, 2018
Ostensibly, this is a biography of one the UK's leading director, however on closer reading it explains what happens in the UK when artists want to/ try release strong left-leaning material.
May 31, 2018
I mean......I haven’t read the whole thing but fuck it, Loach rules
November 16, 2023
Short on analysis and a little over reverential but a useful chronological guide to a film director who follows his own path regardless of fashion.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews