Sweet Sixteen Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
What were you doing on your sixteenth birthday? Hopefully something better than Liam. Sweet Sixteen came out three years before MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen and shows a semi-orphaned teenager waiting for his mum to get released from prison. It’s another brilliantly bleak depiction of working class youth in the U.K. from Ken Loach and a perfect reality check to the super rich spoiled kids which took over MTV screens a few years later.
From: U.K., Europe
Watch: Trailer, Tubi, Amazon Prime
Next: Trainspotting, Girlhood, This is England
The Breakdown
Sweet Sixteen starts by showing the good side of fifteen year old Liam and his mate ‘Pinball’. They’ve taken a telescope outside at night to show the local toddlers what Saturn looks like with its rings. Each kid takes their turn to look through the telescope and Liam tells them what they can see. It’s a rare heart-warming moment that shows the lost potential of Liam.
It’s clear a few scenes later that Loach believes in the impact of nurture over nature. When Liam is in prison visiting his mum, he refuses to play along with his dad and grandad’s drug deals to make a bit of cash. He doesn’t want to risk giving his mum an extended prison time. As a result, he takes another beating from his dad. He obviously hasn’t inherited his good nature from them.
Unfortunately, as in most Ken Loach films, his nature doesn’t make a difference. Liam, as his characters in I, Daniel Blake and Kes are shaped by the environment they live in. He deals contraband cigarettes because he needs to make money… he needs to make money because he’s been kicked out of school… he was kicked out of school because his mum is in prison for doing drugs. The only thing he lives for is to see his mum get out of prison and make her happy. It’s his way of reliving a happy childhood he never had.
What to Watch Next
Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is the first thing you might think of when watching Sweet Sixteen. After all they’re both set in Greater Glasgow, feature drug dealing, and a lot of swearing and violence.
There’s plenty more gritty British films featuring the working class to pair with this film as well. This is England and Kidulthood are two more examples that you shouldn’t watch unless you’re prepared for doom and gloom. You’ll also find some great gritty urban dramas in France too. I’d strongly recommend watching Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood and the brilliant La Haine.
Lastly, you can always check out more films from Ken Loach. Kes or the Cannes-winning I, Daniel Blake are two more great options, but all his films are worth watching if you’re interested in the history of the British working class experience from the last 50 years.
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