CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
SnoopyStyle
Daniel Blake is an unemployed construction worker after a devastating heart attack. He gets disability support until a government bureaucrat decides that he doesn't have enough points. He struggles through the bureaucratic labyrinth trying to navigate a computer without the barest of rudimentary skills or applying for jobs that he couldn't take. He befriends single mom Katie who is also struggling with the bureaucracy as her support is cut.Ken Loach continues his lower class cinema with a gripping tale of a man of honor. The acting is great. The settings have a sense of real places. The plot and the turns are forseeable. For example, after Ivan gives Katie his number, the rest is a given but the emotion is never diminished. Same thing with the ending which has its inevitability. The food bank scene does take a surprising turn. Overall, this is a sad tragedy on a straight road. Daniel never loses his humanity.
BobNoOneHundred
If people in whatever system, social, health care, education, can shit on you with impunity, because you are poor, sick, helpless, powerless, then they will, many of them. The people they are supposed to help are soon turned into enemies. It is like a mechanism. The personal, individual strength of the main characters and the relationship they build with each other is what pulls us through. Otherwise the movie would be unbearable.
Bryan Kluger
For more than 50 years, Ken Loach (KES) has been making films that cause us to think about our current political and social climates, no matter what race your are or where you come from, because a lot of us suffer from the same overall issues, whether it be medically, financially, or a corrupt government. Loach has never been shy to show any of these topics in his films over the years as well as in real life interviews. If you've ever attended a screening a film festival or movie where Loach is the director behind the movie, you will immediately know what you're in for, which is usually a story of someone being beat by the system, despite all of the honest and good things they do. His film I, Daniel Blake is no different, which isn't a bad thing.
It's won a ton of awards and even won the Palme d'Or award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The movie follows a fifty-something man named Daniel Blake who is a skilled carpenter, but is out of work due to having a heart attack. After his recovery, his doctors say he is not ready to go back to work yet, but the job assessment people say otherwise. This puts Daniel in a bad situation as employers won't hire him, because his doctors say he's unfit, but others have checked him as cleared, which leads to Daniel not getting a job and zero government assistance due to a clerical error.As he tries to fix this situation, Loach shows us the frustrating and sometimes funny series of events in trying to fix a bureaucratic mishap by being put on hold for hours on end or someone who is up there in years, trying to work a computer. After the few laughs, it really hits home as the underlying message is that we now live in a time where people are not cared for or listened to, but rather treated as cattle with no purpose. It's a system designed to leave behind the less than fortunate, but honest people. Along the way though, Daniel meets a nice woman named Katie, who has moved from here home with her kids, but is not in a good situation financially or even job-wise.Still, she does what it takes to feed her kids, even if it means she starves for days on end or has to take on other forms of employment that might be illegal. It's here that we see that despite the rough situations that both Daniel and Katie are in, they are still good human beings and help each other out when they can, because the system certainly won't. As with most Loach films, things aren't exactly happy and good feelings. What he does well here is show very realistic characters in very subtle ways with their actions and dialogue.I, Daniel Blake is a fantastic film that flows well with some truly solid performances. It not only shows certain aspects of everyday life perfectly, but also makes them relevant an connects us to one another. There are moments where things can be a bit preachy and could wander into cliche territory, but it doesn't kill the film, due to the simplistic nature and heart warming characters that are on screen. No matter how much social or political is thrown out here, the film is still a great work of art.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I had heard the title of this British film a few times, I knew nothing about the concept, but when it was added to the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, that gave me more reason to see it, directed by BAFTA nominated Ken Loach (Kes, Sweet Sixteen, Looking for Eric). Basically Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is a 59-year-old widower, he works as a construction worker specialising in carpentry, he lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Daniel is recovering from a recent heart attack, his cardiologist has not allowed him to return to work, but he is deemed fit to do so after a work capability assessment and denied employment and support allowance. Daniel is frustrated that his doctor was not contacted about the decision, he applies for an appeal, a process which he finds difficult as he is not computer literate and must complete forms online. At the job centre, Daniel witnesses single mother Katie (BAFTA nominated Hayley Squires) being sanctioned for arriving late for an appointment, Daniel feels sorry for Katie and befriends her. Katie and her children have recently moved from a London homeless persons' hostel to Newcastle, there is no affordable accommodation available in London. Daniel helps Katie and her family, repairing objects, teaching them how to heat rooms without electricity and crafting wooden toys for the children. Katie visits the food bank, overcome with hunger she has a break down, then she is caught at a supermarket shoplifting, the manager is prepared to let it go. At the supermarket, a security guard offers Katie job as a prostitute, she goes to the brothel, Daniel shows up there to beg her to give up the job, but she tearfully insists she has no other choice to feed her children. One of the conditions for Daniel to receive jobseeker's allowance is that he must keep looking work, he hands his CV to many places, there is an instance where he gets a call from a scrapyard, but he turns it down, mentioning his doctor and wanting to continue getting benefits, which insults the caller. Daniel attends a meeting with his work coach, but he is told that he must work harder to find a job or be sanctioned, Daniel has become frustrated with the endless, dead-end conversations over the phone with impersonal government health-care and employment agents. After leaving the job centre following another non-eventful appointment, Daniel goes to the side of the building and spray paints "I, Daniel Blake, demand my appeal date before I starve" in big letters on the wall. Daniel sits under the graffiti, many passing people, including other benefits claimants, show their support and praise, until he is arrested and warned by the police, following his arrest Daniel sells most of his belongings and becomes withdrawn. It is the day of Daniel's appeal, Katie accompanies him to court, a welfare adviser tells Daniel that his case looks sound, but Daniel becomes anxious when glimpsing at the judge and the doctor. In the end, Daniel visits the lavatory, where he suffers another heart attack and dies, at his funeral Katie reads the eulogy, as well as his speech he had written for the appeal, it describes Daniel's feelings about how the welfare system failed him by treating him like a dog instead of a man proud to have paid his dues to society. Also starring Dylan McKiernan as Dylan, Briana Shann as Daisy, Sharon Percy as Sheila, Kate Rutter as Ann and Kema Sikazwe as China. Johns is a comedian (he has appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats), he makes a splendid dramatic debut, Squires is also fantastic as the single mother struggling to support her young children. The film incorporates both humour and hard-hitting issues to show the hardships of the British health and employment support systems, I myself was on jobseeker's allowance, so I know how difficult it can be and could relate with the characters, it is funny, moving and interesting, a most worthwhile comedy drama. It won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film of the Year, and it was nominated for Best Film and Best Original Screenplay. Very good!
