The weight of a feather; so light its ability to float disguises its power to sink. Reina Brown
The credits rolled and so did the tears. I sat in the theatre, dark, still; the only thing moving was the weight of the liquid forming in my eyes, and I allowed them to sink. They streamed and I didn’t wipe.
This is what six decades of directing has the power to do. Master, Director Ken Loach presents his latest project, Sorry I Missed You. A timely piece set during the financial crisis of 2008, about a family of hope struggling to float in a world created for you to sink.
Ricky played by (Kris Hitchen) is a former construction worker who loses his job and home. Eager to make a go at being his own boss, he takes a quasi-freelance delivery gig, though it means punishing hours, working under a ruthless manager, and making a substantial investment upfront.
Despite being filled with hope and determination to work hard with the outcome of success, Loach reminds us of the systemic injustice and error in the idea that hard work will equate success in this world.
Ricky convinces his wife, Abbie (Debbie Honeywood), a home-care nurse, to sell her car in order to buy the van he needs for the job. Complications build as Ricky discovers the harsh realities of a un-empathetic boss, his son Seb (Rhys Stone) whose systematic rebellion and new love as a semi-politicized graffiti artist complicates their family dynamic of love, and the family’s hopes of getting ahead crushed blow by blow with no sight of turn over.
Focusing on the arch, from what I believe to be metaphorically drawn characters, Loach once again dissects larger social issues. You witness corporations become institutional dominos that lay the family flat over and over again.
A slave-driving boss A.K.A. partner, representing an un-empathetic system. An innocent child, representing a hopeful and uninformed society. An angry teen, representing the realization of a fixed society. A mother, representing compassion and the expectation of how we should be treated and how we should treat others; with dignity and respect. The elderly representing the outcome of the working class with the ability to talk, and think yet unable to get up and do the most basic functions like using the restroom.
So what happens in a world where you can dress up for a fancy affair but disadvantaged to take yourself to the loo? You shit on yourself and all over that pretty gown; awaiting someone with enough compassion to help you clean yourself up.
Scheduled to hit theaters March 2020, Sorry We Missed You is beauty but beware its layers of drama and emotion are as light as a feather.
