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Nov 30, 2016howeshound rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Ken Loach's style of direction generally works well but not here I feel. His technique is to mix scripted scenes with ad-libbing, giving his actors general direction and leaving them to live out the action. The problem with this film is that the basic plot - lowland Scottish deadbeats trying (with various degrees of commitment) to turn their lives around, steals from one of the themes of Trainspotting. That movie is superbly scripted and asking actors to improvise something that matches is a bridge too far. The result is a derivative and rather Hollywoodish movie with improbable twists, and a soundtrack in thick Glaswegian that isn't up to much in any language. In Raining Stones and especially in Kes, Loach proves himself to be a director with much to say and a finely crafted way of saying it, but not in this movie.