Raining Stones

Raining Stones is directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen. It stars Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey, Mike Fallon and Jonathan James. Music is by Stewart Copeland and cinematography by Barry Ackroyd.

Northern England and as unemployment bites hard, Bob (Jones) frets about finding the money for his daughter's communion dress...

It's classical Loach, an awareness of the lower to working class lifestyle during a politically turbulent time. As is the great director's want, realism leaps out from every frame, earthy humour is evident and Loach draws you into his kitchen sink world with ease. Raining Stones has no political agenda as such, it's primary focus is the people, specifically examining how a basically honest hard working man has pride in abundance but little brains in accompaniment. And we all know what pride comes before...

The structure is simple, an hour of film lets us know the principal players, their surroundings and their beliefs. Humour dominates the narrative at this point, be it nutty ideas like stealing a sheep off of the Moors to sell to the butcher - Bob's date with a sewer drain - and Tommy (Tomlinson) showing his ass and genitals to an overhead police helicopter! There are scenes and snatches of dialogue that genuinely bring the laughs. Yet lurking in the background is the palpable sense of things about to turn bad, which is the case of course, and the film shifts for its last third into dramatic thriller mode.

Religion is a feature, but again it's not something that Loach wants to use as a tool for head beating. In fact it's refreshing that the portrayal of Father Barry (Hickey excellent), who is the glue that binds his unemployed flock together, is not about pious pontificating, he's very aware of the times and happy to share a glass of whiskey with Bob and offer up some surprising advice. Cast performances are across the board great, something which is another trait of Loach's direction, while Ackroyd's photography around the Middleton, Rochdale locale is suitable stripped back to reveal a climate of struggle.

A must for anyone with a kink for Loach's type of story telling, Raining Stones is another fine entry on his considerable CV. 8/10

I watched this on Channel 4 late one night a few years ago. I had had a bad day at work, and was dog-tired. On the verge of turning off the TV, I caught the beginning, and I was immediately hooked.

Ken Loach provides a hyper-realistic portrayal of life on the edge in the 1990`s. Bruce Jones (later to play the feckless Les Battersby on Coronation Street) displays a remarkable tenderness as the struggling father who desperately tries to obtain enough money to buy his daughter a communion dress. He, and Ken Loach,indicate that this poor man represents the best of the working class, only forced to crime,in order to feed and clothe his family.He is a true hero.

The grim setting and subject matter (a disintegrating council estate, and dingy pubs) are not allowed to swamp the deeply human nature of the tale, and there are a number of moments (especially provided by Ricky Tomlinson), where the mood is lightened, allowing gritty humour to emerge. The opening, where the two heroes are unsuccessfully trying to steal a sheep is hysterical.

I wouldn`t call myself a great Ken Loach fan, but this is his masterpiece. I would call it one on the best British films of all time.

Raining Stones is a gritty urban tale of life with no money or hope! Bob Williams(Bruce Jones) has to raise the cash for his daughters first communium dress! He's determined to get the best one, which is the dearest, ably followed with his long suffering wife(Julie Brown) and his best mate Tommy (Ricky Tomlinson). From gutting drains to stealing turf and sheep! He struggles to raise the cash and has to visit a loan shark- 'Tansey' , with devastating consequences! Bob's a survivor, but will it all come good in the end?! Another Brilliant film from Ken Loach! 8/10

Bob Williams is one of many unemployed in his area and faced with doing cash-in-hand work and odd jobs to keep his family's heads above water. Regardless of his and his wife's hardships they are both committed Catholics. His daughter is having her first communion and Bob wants her to fit in with the others – meaning a new dress and shoes which will total about £100. His attempts to raise the money mostly brings very small reward and frustration. Meanwhile his luck runs nothing but bad and his van is stolen – limiting his ability to pick up jobs and get around. As his debts rise, so do his troubles and his desperation.

The type of film that Ken Loach made his name directing, this film is a touching and natural ode to the spirit of the poor man. The plot is not so much a typical day in the life as a dramatic piece that follows the downward spiral of Bob as a representation of how life on the breadline is one challenge after another. In Bob's life an one-off expense of £100 is a major incident to be gotten through rather than the inconvenience that it is for the majority of us. The film does a very good job of portraying it – it isn't a film noir descent into crime but rather just the spirit of a man fighting to pay the bills. Most of us will have had this at some point but few of us can relate to those that get by daily on odd-jobs and going door-to-door; however the script here lays it out convincingly and naturally, easily allowing me to get into the lives before me. In this regard it is impacting because the humour and desperation of the people is convincing and their day-to-day situation dire.

The cast all take the material and run with it and there are few here that I didn't totally believe. Jones wears the character like a second skin and fits into it really well. His desperation is well complemented by Tomlinson who adds the comic spirit to the bottom classes. The rest of the cast are solid despite not having the limelight in the same way. Brown is good despite having the very occasional rare moment. Phoenix is sweet and natural and the rest of the cast feel mostly real. Loach's direction is grainy and fits the world his story is in.

I hate to use the words over and over again but this is a convincing and natural story and it is touching and engaging as a result. It does a great job of capturing the spirit of the poor, making the best of what they have – but not ever ignoring the fact that Bob et al are the type of shifty people who you wouldn't want to mess with.

Like many, I often found the accents hard to decipher. But I think it speaks to Loach's formidable talent that it's never really in question as to what's happening: we get the story in visible strokes, and we get the emotional feeling in the most minute, detailed way possible. To use a clichéd phrase, it has the drama of life, and Loach has a loving touch, even though the outer view of his work is rough and hard: he doesn't separate the funny bits from the painful bits, he lets it all run together. And despite the fact that some find him an "uncinematic" director, I think that's mostly baloney. No, he doesn't impress with his visuals, but that doesn't mean that they're uncinematic; he's working in a way that's more interested in recording emotions (and he still tells a story) and that is cinematic.

The film espouses a wonderful philosophy -- love and prayer is enough. Yet while the film is sympathetic to the emphasis the family places on communion (getting into Heaven), at times it feels like a condemnation of Catholic greed and pie-in-the-sky fantasies of those relying on God to solve their earthly troubles -- after all, He doesn't buy communion dresses. I think that's why the film works so well. It never spells out how intelligent it is, because that's not Loach's intention. Yet what he does is incredibly smart. (Likewise, you can see the politics behind the film, and that's why they work, too: they're behind it, not in your face.) The ending might seem a little too cheery (though cheery is perhaps the wrong word), but I think it works in the tradition of great humanism: things WILL be alright in the end, if you just believe. And because it's humanism, it's true: everything else might be awful, but you're alive, you have a family, you're fighting to go on: that's wonderful.

Loach makes a brilliant choice with the car crash, because it solves something and yet it makes the moral universe of the film more complex: Is he scott free now? Who is the bad guy here? And Loach of course includes the most pragmatic priest in the movies -- pray for the worthless soul as any good Christian would, but realize that he who causes fear in the hearts of good people is not a life worth wrecking yours over. Consider the car crash an act of God (which indirectly benefits God, by supporting a family of followers), rewarding he who believes yet still exists in the practical world trying to make things work (he who doesn't just lay around waiting for God to save him). THIS is Catholic cinema. I'm agnostic, and this touched my soul. It gets at the roots of what real religion does, or is supposed to do: heal, protect, love -- not preach, frighten, or intimidate. So I think even though he opts for a "faith" film (that is, he does not offer a text book on how to solve your problems), Loach's "realism" and pragmatic philosophy still suggests that the everyday is important -- keep at it. It's what leads to the faith, it's what's needed for the faith to work. 9/10