Looks and Smiles

Looks and Smiles is a 1981 British drama film directed by Ken Loach. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Barry Hines. The film was entered into the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, where Loach won the Young Cinema Award.

Plot
A disadvantaged young man tries to get by in Margaret Thatcher's England. Writing in his book The Cinema of Ken Loach, Jacob Leigh comments: "Looks and Smiles reveals the depression people felt in the industrial North of England in the 1980s; but it is as depressing as Mick's life. ... Loach's characteristic attention to detail renders the film a period piece."

Cast

 * Graham Green - Michael 'Mick' Walsh
 * Carolyn Nicholson - Karen Lodge
 * Tony Pitts - Alan Wright
 * Roy Haywood - Phil
 * Phil Askham - Mr. Walsh
 * Pam Darrell - Mrs. Walsh
 * Tracey Goodlad - Julie
 * Patti Nicholls - Mrs. Wright
 * Cilla Mason - Mrs. Lodge
 * Les Hickin - George
 * Arthur Davies - Eric Lodge
 * Deirdre Costello - Jenny (as Deidre Costello)
 * Jackie Shinn - Gatekeeper
 * Christine Francis - Careers Officer
 * Rita May - Receptionist

Filming
The film was shot in black-and-white entirely on location in Sheffield. There is some Yorkshire dialect in the film, although not as much as in previous Loach-Hines collaborations such as Kes and The Price of Coal.

Critical reception
A review in The New York Times complained that "a great deal of the dialogue remains unintelligible to the American ear."

A 2016 Guardian article wrote, "Even the most devoted fan found 1981’s Looks & Smiles painfully miserable".

Aftermath
Ken Loach considered the film a failure and turned to making documentaries for several years afterwards, saying that the film failed to "create the outrage in the audience that should have been there". He also considered it "the end of an era" as he avoided long camera shots in subsequent films. In support of the film, it has been held up as one of Ken Loach's film that does not propagate one political view heavily, as opposed to Fatherland or Land and Freedom