Looks and Smiles

Looks and Smiles (1981) is an English film directed by Ken Loach. The film is set in the industrial midlands during the Margaret Thatcher years.

Graham Green (note that he's not the First Nations actor or the author) portrays Michael 'Mick' Walsh, a young man with mechanical talent who is ready to work. Unfortunately, work is hard to come by. Young men, without formal training, simply couldn't find a job.

Their options are limited: they can go on the dole, they can get into trouble, or they can join the army. One of Mick's friends does join the army, and gets sent to fight the IRA in Northern Ireland. He doesn't appear in many scenes, but, when he does, we can tell that he's become tougher and is losing his basic decency.

Carolyn Nicholson portrays Karen, a wonderful young woman who falls in love with Mick. She has a job, in a shoe store, but faces challenges at home. If Mick had a job, they could make it work. But . . .

Loach is a skilled director and he makes us care about Mick and Karen. Unfortunately, the government doesn't care about them, and that's the sad, basic problem.

We saw this film on the small screen, where it worked very well. It carries a weak IMDb rating of 6.9. I'm not sure why the rating is that low. I think it's much better than that.

In black and white. Mick and alan are looking for jobs, but can't find work. The bored, angry youth of england in the 1980s. At the same time, the religious and class differences only increased the violence all over the uk. Alan joins the military, but mick bums around town with his girlfriend. Tough times. It's okay. Kind of a snapshot of life in the hard-time 80s for high school grads looking for work. Directed by ken loach. He won the bafta for daniel blake. Story by barry hines.