Recent Palme D'Or winner and long-time chronicler of social and political injustice, Ken Loach.

Spanning 40 years and nearly 60 films (comprising 17 theatrical features and numerous dramas and documentaries for television), Loach's oeuvre represents one of contemporary cinema's most intriguing and thoughtful careers. His finest films remain explicitly political without becoming didactic, deadly serious though leavened by humour, and powerfully emotional even when fueled by the most intellectual ideas. Like the Italian and Czech films he cites as major influences, Loach mines profound insights out of the mundane details of ordinary life, creating a multivalent portrait of the working class seldom seen on film. As Vincent Canby suggests, “Loach's movies may one day provide a more accurate record of a nation's collective unconscious than the work of any other single director

Totally not crap. A great British artist that is overlooked at home by the press because he's not a jingoistic retard.

not crap for what he does...he is a good social documantary maker not a good filmaker, palme d'or is crap since a long time, since Imamura won it, Imamura was one of the last GREAT, ken loach will always make ken loach style, and thats cool, but artistly talking he is...humm....well.....boring!!!

Not Crap!

Some of his films work better than others obviously but he's made some truly great films.

I think my favorite (haven't seen the new one) is My Name is Joe. Other good ones are:
The Navigators
Sweet Sixteen
Kes
Carla's song

There are so many I haven't seen that may stack up better than those I have.

Not Crap, for many reasons, but Land and Freedom takes the cake for me.

I recently watched Kes again for the first time since I was a child. I'd remembered it as profoundly effecting and depressing, but on rewatching it there's something ultimately optimistic and powerful about Caspar's story; Capsar's teacher is able indentify qualities in him that will help him rise above his childhood circumstances. The kestrel represents that and whilst the bird is pyshically killed by his brutish brother, he still retains the intelligence and curiosity that'll help him escape.

I really love the scene in which Caspar is reading out loud from the Desperate Dan comic and making all of the sound-effect noises.

If you get a chance try and get hold of Ken Loach's Black Jack, a film set in Yorkshire in the 1700's. It's a beautifully low-key and accurately depicted historical drama, wonderfully acted by non-actors. I saw it on FilmFour and I'm not sure about it's availibility.

Also: Cathy Come Home is a Not Crap, and historically important TV drama.

A great director. I'm really looking forward to seeing his treatment of the Black & Tans in the movie "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", which just won the Palme d'Or.

I loved "Kes" as a child as well. My friend liked it so much that when he bought a Ford Falcon car, he named it "Our Kes".

Cranius, that's a great interpretation of the movie. It has cheered me up, thinking that Caspar will escape the pit.

Poor Cow is one of my favorites, because I love Terence Stamp.

I also like the Soderbergh followup, The Limey.

Not crap.

It's a shame they only show Kes and his more recent stuff on TV.
Well FilmFour is doing a chanel on Freeview from July so hopefully
I may catch some more on there.

There's tons of his old stuff i'd like to see.

I think the last one i saw was Sweet Sixteen which was pretty good.

b

Deffos Not Crap,

Stylistically I find him a little dull but the stroies are so strong and the performances he gets from people more than make up for it.

I wish to fuck I knew how he gets those performances, particularly when working with non-actors.

I would like to see more working class types making films about working class types (Shane Meadows 24/7 and A Room for Romeo Brass are good examples of this) instead of someone who comes across like a well schooled university lecturer doing it.
Though when the films are this good I suppose it doesn't really matter.
He does hit the nail on the head there's no getting away from it.