Venice. It's a Free World....

"Few countries have a handle on matters of immigration, but a combination of free market profit-seeking and nanny-state regulations has resulted in a singular mess in Great Britain, as Ken Loach illustrates in his tough-minded slice of life picture It's a Free World...," writes Ray Bennett for the Hollywood Reporter. "Loach is in excellent form making the most of a shrewd screenplay by Paul Laverty and drawing a winning performance from newcomer Kierston Wareing as a brassy but misguided entrepreneur."

"Strong, pacily told London-set tale unfolds from the POV of a would-be exploiter rather than a victim, illuminating a chain of connections most people would rather ignore," writes Alissa Simon for Variety. "Human drama remains front and center, with discussion of issues more naturally incorporated than in some of [Loach and Laverty's] past work.... Long known for obtaining terrific perfs from newcomers, Loach introduces some exciting new talent. As driven, energetic Angie, Wareing is dynamite in her first film role. Appearing in nearly every scene, she burns up the screen."

Updated through 9/4.

Update, 9/2: "Laverty and Loach's decision to approach the lives of immigrant workers in the English capital through the eyes of a London native who gives them work seems like a fresh take on the familiar tales of difficult or even desperate conditions of immigrant workers both legal and illegal, but their choice of Angie, a bike-riding blonde bombshell, for a protagonist seems misguided and miscast," writes Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net. "The various themes treated here have surfaced in some of Loach's previous works, including Bread and Roses about Mexican immigrants in the US; Ae Fond Kiss about second-generation immigrants in Scotland; and The Navigators, about railway workers fighting against privatisation. In this sense, the film deepens the organic Loach oeuvre with a new entry that crystallises some of the ideas that have floated around in his previous work, though It's a Free World... (note the three punctuation marks of hesitation at the end) is not as nuanced as any of these films."

Updates, 9/3: "It's a Free World... raises as many questions as it answers, but it's agreeable, brisk and provocative - a minor work, similar in stature to The Navigators (2001)," writes the Telegraph's David Gritten. "Like that film, It's a Free World... will get a TV release - which seems about right."

"The polemic, as usual with Loach, depends for its effect on characterisation and acting as much as the argument," writes Derek Malcolm for the Evening Standard. "And here he has found in Wareing a considerable new talent. We may be shocked at Angie's conduct but she still retains our sympathy."

Meantime, Loach has "called for a repeal of anti-trade union laws and tighter health and safety controls in Britain," reports Jason Solomons. "Speaking to the Observer, Loach criticised what he called British exploitation of cheap foreign labour. 'We've allowed the working infrastructure of our country to disintegrate,' he said. 'Workers in our factories and supermarkets, in the agriculture and manufacturing industries, have no protection and no voice.'"

"As his work is collected in a DVD box set for the first time, [Loach] talks exclusively to Dave Calhoun about each of its 16 films – the key works which have defined his illustrious career." An odd page at Time Out; depending on your browser (and maybe your computer), if you click "Cancel" often enough (provided you're asked to "log in" in the first place), you'll eventually be able to read the piece. Via Movie City News.

Update, 9/4: "This is a small-scale but often affecting and very well observed film in the vein of The Navigators, Riff-Raff and Raining Stones," writes Geoffrey Macnab in Screen Daily. "It may not be vintage Loach (there are moments of improbability and occasional lurches toward melodrama) but the film has all the qualities associated with the director - depth of characterization, warmth and a biting political message."

---

Covering the coverage: Venice 07. Index.

---

Posted by dwhudson at September 1, 2007 4:22 PM