Essentially a bleak story, the film draws us in with a lively sense of character, offhanded humour and sharply authentic actors. It's never a slog, never depressing or hopeless, even though what happens, when you think about it, is rather terrible. Loach is an expert at making marginal elements of society look like normal life (well, they are!), and this film resonates with truth and feeling without ever preaching. There's an edginess here that belies the subtle and skilled camera work, accompanied by George Fenton's terrific music. And a sharp streak of real-life humour flows through the film from start to finish, undercut by the difficult choices Liam is forced to make before his 16th birthday. The only problem with the film is the thickly accented dialect, which requires subtitles even for an English-speaking audience (I'd say I understood about half of the dialog). But even if you can't tell exactly what they're saying, you will know--and feel--what they mean.