I haven’t seen enough of British director Ken Loach’s movies, but the few that have come my way (My Name is Joe, Sweet Sixteen) struck me as good examples of finely crafted social realism. Alas, this time around, Loach and his habitual screenwriter Paul Laverty are working in moral black and white: all working stiffs good, all government bureaucrats bad. At first, we can all be ruefully amused by how easily we identify with Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) as the all-thumbs 59-year-old tries to grasp remedial computer skills or spends hours on hold, only to be disconnected. But it soon becomes apparent that we’re going to cruise at this level of insight for the rest of the picture. If character identification is your main motivating factor in going to the movies, you’ll probably find much here to embrace, because it’s tempting to say that there’s nothing in Loach’s latest that we haven’t all experienced. But who looks at movie screens to see their own reflection? (2016) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.