BruIrn

Films you see and enjoy as a child always have a tendency to have a greater impact than supposedly 'superior' films you see in your adult years but, for me anyway, Kes would never have failed to affect me whatever age I had first watched it. Even as a young boy who had not watched a great deal films I was immediately struck by how different Kes was to anything I had seen at the time and this still rings true to this day.

The debut performances of pretty much the entire cast give proceedings an ultra-realistic edge akin to a documentary, as does Ken Loach's trademark 'no frills' approach to direction and the lack of an intrusive soundtrack. A hard-hitting tone throughout the film climaxes with a superbly downbeat ending (Hollywood this most certainly isn't) although it is interspersed with moments of genuinely brilliant comedy with the Brian Glover-inspired football scene being one of the funniest to have ever been committed to celluloid.

Who could have ever imagined that a simple tale of a boy and a kestrel could have made such a lasting impression? Not perfect but as close to it as I've ever seen. Pure brilliance.

ChristineCB

I don't know this film. Thanks for bringing it up.

Kes (1969)

Have you seen it recently, or repeatedly? Have different scenes or personalities changed their affecting ways on you? Or have you been able to see if often enough so that your memories of it are precise from one viewing to another?

If you've seen this filmmaker's other works, how do you compare KES to those others?

BruIrn

No problem. I hope that you get to see it and enjoy it as much as I do.

In answer to your questions, Kes is one of the few films that I actually own on DVD, as I tend to rent or borrow from friends. I have therefore seen it numerous times including quite recently. As I have grown up with the film I suppose I have viewed certain aspects of the film differently as I have matured over the years and understood why characters behaved in the way they did (even the more unsympathetic characters, of which there's quite a few on show). The film is also quite personal to me as my own father worked in the mines as a young man (which the main character is dead set on not doing) before he 'escaped' to join the British Army.

Given that I am such a huge fan of Kes I am quite ashamed to say I have only see one other Ken Loach film, Riff-Raff(1990), which is obviously a much more modern film but displays the same uninstrusive direction and realistic tone. It's been some years since I've seen the film but I do remember enjoying it and there was a particularly strong performance from Robert Carlyle before he hit the big time with Trainspotting etc.

I hope these go some way to answering your queries.

Steve Crook

I've watched Kes quite often over the years and read the book a few times and it never ceases to amaze me. The performance from young Dai Bradley is just amazing. He should have won every award going.
The whole situation is a bit alien to me, not having grown up in a mining village or in a particularly deprived area. But I can understand why Billy wants to escape going down the mine.
His elder brother Jud is a great portrayal of a bully and an "old style" young man who grows up without thinking about what he wants to do. He just follows the tradition.
The teachers are particularly interesting with the bullying sports teacher but also the sympathetic English teacher. The scene with the smokers outside the headmaster's office does resonate with my own schooldays.
All the way through it I keep hoping that Billy will manage to escape his fate - but he never does, he just manages a few moments of freedom with Kes.

I've seen quite a few of Ken Loach's other films. He does like the naturalistic style although some of his films are a bit preachy for some. He really came to fame with Up the Junction, Cathy Come Home and Poor Cow. I also like the other films he made (for TV) from Barry Hines' other stories like The Price of Coal. I still haven't seen his Irish story, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006). The most recent of his films that I've seen is the Scottish one, Ae Fond Kiss... (2004)

Steve

BruIrn

*SPOILER ALERT*
Well made comments Steve. I couldn't agree more. I would say, however, that over the years I have grown to be a bit more sympathetic towards Jud. Sure he's a bully and a bit of a brute but it's always interesting to try and understand why he's like that. What I've noticed on the last couple of occasions when I've watched Kes is that whilst Jud says he can't imagine being any happier during the scene at the pub, later on when he finds out that he's not won the horse money he keeps saying 'I could have had a week off work with the winnings' so obviously he's not too enamoured with life down the pit either. Perhaps that's what has turned him into such a monster?

Steve Crook

Yes, I wasn't blaming Jud for his life choices by any means. He just went along with what was suggested to him or expected of him. He probably didn't think about it at all. But that applies to many young people, and not just back then either.

Steve

ChristineCB

Thanks for the fine and pointed comments. I enjoy the specifics and spoilers never bother me - if a story's good, it's worth revisiting even if I know the last passage. Now I've got to find something other than stilettos to trick someone into a trade! ha ha...and JUST when I ithought I was finished collectinig! Drat...

BruIrn

I would swap my copy with you for a pair of stilettos were it not for the fact that (a) I love the film so much and (b) I've always struggled to find stilettos that fit my wide feet!:

Seriously though, I heartily recommend it. It's a brilliant film, although the strong Yorkshire accents can take some getting used to.

ChristineCB

I couuldn't possibly do anything with the stilletos anyway - I keep trying to figure ways to get someone to knock Steve down so I can walk on him. And without my heels on, how could someone tell my hooves from all the others?

Steve Crook

You know I'd be prostrate at your feet any day

Steve

willan

Get to the back of the queue. Do Easy Jet go to Texas? :

ChristineCB

Prostrate?!! Boy, that takes all the fun out of it! I'm going to have to pull out my Harvey Korman-Cloris Leachman tapes again.

"Too much bondage! Not enough discipline!!"

kelp

Chris, those lines of dialogue are so desciptive, and what a great film that was. I think (others I know don't agree) that "High Anxiety" is the funniest of Mel Brooks films, as it has something for everyone in there, and the laffs do come one behind the other. "That man has my face"!!!!! and

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

ChristineCB

I give Mel Brooks my award for Most Inconsistent Achievement - some of his films, I love. Some I loathe and avoid. And within each of those, they have wide degrees of popular agreement and dissent.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN may be the exception - I don't know many that haven't enjoyed that film - or at least parts of it. The sets alone are worth the price of admission for any monster-movie fan. The Gene Hackman scene. Sed-A-Give. Frau Blücher. Marty Feldman's offer to help with the bags.

But when Mel's featured in his films, they are invariably low on my tolerance scale, except for HIGH ANXIETY - but actually, that film's driven by everyone but Mel. Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman in their various scenes. Madeline Kahn in all of her stuff (did she EVER contribute to a bad scene in her too-short career? She's incredibly perfect in WHAT'S UP DOC; Trixie Delight in PAPER MOON; Lilli Von Schtupp; surely she was awful in some work...)

My only favored Mel scene is in HIGH ANXIETY, when the birds 'attack', so to speak. I can easily applaud their sentiment.

Harleybloke

re-set your time machine and you could nudge out DR from The Avengers.....

.....You couldn't hear it, if they were shooting at me with howitzers!