Three years after their critically-acclaimed and award-winning I, Daniel Blake portrayed the grim reality of life for people on welfare in Britain, director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty have produced a similarly somber view of people working in the gig economy.
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We speak to director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty
The cumulative effect of these two films is the obvious implication that the UK is currently at war with its working class.
Kris Hitchen is heartbreaking as the earnest and dutiful Ricky, who has been fighting an uphill struggle against debt since the 2008 financial crash meant he lost his job, mortgage and family home. Times are tough but Ricky, a proud man who's never claimed the dole, thinks he's found the solution to all of his family's problems.
He gets a job as a self-employed delivery driver, who may be technically working for himself, but he's really at the beck and call of the franchise holders. He has to work long hours and even has to bring a bottle with him to pee in.
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We speak to the cast of Sorry We Missed You
It's just as tough for his soft-spoken but strong-minded wife Abby, played with great empathy here by Debbie Honeywood, whose work as a carer means long hours and isolation, as she's effectively helping elderly people in their homes, with no practical support.
The family unit is strong - Ricky and Abby have two great kids in Seb and Lisa Jane - but the children are largely left to their own devices as both mam and dad are working day and night. Tension grows when the artistically-inclined Seb, played with great sensitivity by young Rhys Stone, falls in with the wrong crowd.
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Anyone familiar with Ken Loach's work will be aware of his neorealist style, which makes many of his films seem more like documentaries than drama, which adds to the pathos of this deeply moving film.
If you don't come out of Sorry We Missed You with either a lump in your throat or a clenched fist, you're made of stone.
John Byrne
