Sundance Selects Nabs Ken Loach’s Angel’s Share [Cannes 2012]

With Kes currently resting firmly in The Criterion Collection, we may be in store for yet more Ken Loach when it comes to the Mighty C.

Variety reports that Sundance Selects, a subsidiary of IFC who themselves are partners in crime with Criterion, have nabbed the rights to Loach’s new film, Angel’s Share, which recently debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this past week.

The film is penned by Paul Laverty, and is a comedy, following the story of a boy from Glasgow given one more shot to keep himself out of prison. With a newborn son, he decides to try one more time to not only stay out of the clink, but prove to the world that he can be a stand up man and father.

This marks IFC’s second Cannes purchase, but one that comes with far worse reviews. Simon Abrams wrote at The Playlist on the film, saying that there were ‘some good laughs and a passable air of bonhomie do nothing,’ only covering up ‘the fact that The Angel’s Share‘ is totally lightweight and distractingly underdone.’ Then you have Simon Gallagher writing for Film School Rejects, saying ‘Though the film feels extremely appropriate in terms of the global recession it will be released into, it is actually an anthem for a lost generation who have been around a lot longer than the current dip in the world’s markets ‘“ as the production notes state, some young people in parts of Scotland (and similar areas) are now third generation unemployed, and raising awareness of that situation, as well as ensuring that they, like Robbie, are still viewed as worthwhile people is a big part of the social commentary of the film.’ Reviews are admittedly mixed, but with these two outlets giving their respective grades as a C- and A, you see just what kind of polarizing film we have here. Could Criterion end up releasing this on DVD and Blu-ray? It seems, from reviews, that the film is a tad too slight, but who knows what Criterion thinks? What do you think?

Source Variety