Ken Loach

Ken Loach is an English film and television director, well known for his dramas. He is also known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness in Cathy Come Home and labor rights Riff-Raff.
Ken is someone in media that has an individual style, control overall elements and is able to put his personal stamp of his work, he done this with the help of Toy Garnet in the early stages.

Critics say : “ His films are melodramatic…….” And “….. audiences are left with no solution” this is because Ken doesn’t follow the rule of the equilibrium where the world starts off normal, problem arises and then the solution.

Kens style:
• Distinctive
• Provocative
• Captures a sense of realism
• A cinema of truth
• Inspirational
• Recognized

And he doesn’t always reveal script to characters

Films by Ken Loach





These are based on real life everyday stories were there is a huge amount of sadness in them and they both deal with major social issues. In the 1st clip its race, culture and religion and the other it’s the position of women and immigrants both deal with struggle and challenges this is common in Loach’s films.
I found that in the 1st clip not a lot of camera shots were used, Ken has kept it very simple. During the scene there was not a lot of talking but a lot of awkward silences, an when there was speech the characters spoke over one another this showed that it was not scripted but in a way it worked well.
I felt that Ken Loach used the narrative to show the characters ‘rite of passage’ in both films because without the string narrative it would not work this is in both clips.

Monologue

Monologue – My ‘rite of passage’

Everything changed mum wasn’t herself she stopped playing with me and my younger brother all she did was sleep. All day and all night she would only surface for a couple of hours to cook dinner.  Me and brother stopped going school, less times a week because mum was unable to take us. I didn’t see it as unusual I thought all children looked after their younger brothers during the day. Dad stopped showing up more often and whenever he was around there was arguments between him and mum. Every time they argued I would always be the one to sit upstairs and hold my brother tight, told him not to cry as the shouting would stop soon. He never used to listen and got angry because he thought it was his fault he was only 4 at the time so I look back now and I understand. My brother’s temper got worse as we got older and he became harder to control. Mum was still tired all the time which meant I still had to find a way to control my younger sibling. I had to cook, clean and tidy up, make we was both up and dressed for school even if mum was too tired t drive us, but having a pack lunch  ready was essential.  As years went on mum became less tired and I started to go to school more often however my brother didn’t the school had kicked him out, his temper got worse and he was harming himself and others. People called me names saying that was related to the boy with that always went crazy and got kicked out. I thought they was my friends as they could be nice sometimes, they would invite me to parties and give me Christmas cards every year , however they would also call me names and shut me out the group I used to go home crying no one would listen.   Things got worse before they got better, but when it did everything were on a rise, I made a new best friend and she helped me with everything and she still does. I aced all my year 6 exams, my brother went back into a mainstream school, mum wasn’t tired and had a job and I had a new best friend to start journeys with in a brand new school where we left all those spiteful girls behind.

Little Miss Sunshine

How is sound and camera being used to display each characters individual rite of passage?

Is Anybody There?

This film addresses the rite of passage for an old man and a young boy. The old man’s ‘Rite of Passage’ was that he realizes that he needs help from others, not just physically but also emotionally. The young boy’s ‘Rite of Passage’ was having his first friendship which was the old man and also to make new relationships and friends.

The old man and the boy had a very close relationship which leads to trust and hope. Both characters realized that they could rely on each other the old man had the boy to help him remember his dream job as a magician and he passed his knowledge and tricks on to the young boy and it distracted him from that he was old and close to death. The young boy used these new skills and tricks to help build his confidence to make new friends and build relationship in school.

Juno

In this film it deals Juno’s her first sexual experience, first teenage pregnancy, first time giving birth and the first time having to give up the baby. This film tackles with a lot of first experiences that many teenage girls go through and it follows the journey of the girl and her personal experience and her ‘Rite of Passage’.


This film did surprise me as the character Juno is not your stereotypical teenage pregnant mother, as she comes across clever, smart and knows what she wants. Also her parents are hardly involved with any decisions she makes as she is head strong and can make her own choices. In usual cases the parents would be more full on a taking a lot of care of their daughter and soon to be grandchild.

This ‘Rite of Passage’ is about Juno having her own real life experience and how she is growing with her own independence.

Y tu mamá tabién

From this clip I can identify 3 main characters two boys and one girl, they seem to be young adults ranging between the ages of 17-25.It started off with just the two boys then later on in the clip the girl appears. They seem to go through good times and bad times within the clips for instance where they are joyful for example when riding in the car together laughing (1:10-1:13) and where the girl is crying and the boys are fighting (1:48 -1:56).


From this clip it seems to me that these two boys have set off on their first holiday together and they have done this by taking a road trip and they have done this to escape from the world to experience new things and adventures.

These locations have been chosen as part of their road trip, and from every different place that they stop off or go past they are gaining and learning about new experiences. They also learn about different cultures and destinations and this can be a major learning curve for them.


This film is saying that the ‘Rites of Passage’ is all about finding yourself and the emotional development of young adults. The film also shows that the ‘Rites of Passage’ is also about the stages of life this is shown, for example when they drive pass the wedding car (1:15-1:17) and when the pass the dead person lying on the floor (0:42-0:44)these are both stages within life.