English film with English subtitles. These are not just a gimmick; they are a real help; but they are also a distraction, in that they consistently deviate from the spoken words ("high blood pressure" comes out "hypertension"; "not nicked" becomes "not stolen"; "Don't you dare bloody go" becomes "Don't you dare go"; and so on). Even so, this distraction adds a point of interest to the barren plain of working-class drabness, scruffiness. Ken Loach, a kitchen-sink chap from way back, uncharacteristically planks down some bits of comedy (even bits as warmed-over as the audition ordeal or the scattering of Mum's ashes in a breeze), and these are welcome, too. Robert Carlyle, Emer McCourt. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd