Sweet Sixteen

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

Sweet Sixteen shows that he's (Loach) as capable of anger as his protagonist and just as eager to draw attention to an unchanging problem: the blight of generational poverty.

Dallas Observer by Bill Gallo

There are no hearts and flowers in Loach's hard-edged world, no kindly interventions, no signs from heaven. Instead, he gives us the unvarnished facts about working-class exploitation and the failure of ambition in low places.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Loach has made more memorable films, such as "Raining Stones" and "Ladybird Ladybird," but his dramatic sense remains strong and his social conscience is absolutely unstoppable.

L.A. Weekly by Ella Taylor

It's not a happy film, but there's much incidental, quotidian happiness in it. Like Lynne Ramsay's lovely "Ratcatcher," the movie is far from sentimental about children.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

It's an uncompromising movie that illustrates one of the most convincing personality transformations that I have seen in a recent motion picture.

Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan

With unsurprising irony, the "Sixteen" of the title foreshadows Liam's birthday and even worse calamity, which makes a grim and gripping story all the more heartbreaking.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak

A hard film to shake and makes us think and think again.

Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez

Watching this essentially good but misguided kid slide into a hopeless future is both transfixing and heartbreaking.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The movie's performances have a simplicity and accuracy that is always convincing. Compston, who plays Liam, is a local 17-year-old discovered in auditions at his school. He has never acted before, but is effortlessly natural.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

It's a beautiful, grim tale.