Paul Magne Haakonsen The movie starts out pretty slowly and doesn't really pick up pace before the friends come up with a risky plan to get rich, without spoiling more of the story, that's all I will mention about that.The story told in "The Angels' Share" is about a group of young delinquents who are taken to a whiskey distillery where they concoct a plan that will make them rich.For a comedy then there was surprisingly little to laugh about throughout the course of the movie, which was a shame because it would have spruced up the movie.What worked in "The Angels' Share" was the cast, because they had managed to get some nicely talented actors and actresses. And it was nice to watch a movie with all new faces. There was a good chemistry amongst those on the screen. Another thing that worked well was the colorful and likable characters in the story.I loathe whiskey, so the whole aspect of it being a grand thing with the rare whiskey was lost on me. it all take like charred wood to me.For me, this movie was a mediocre experience, given the lack of comedy, and thus I score it five out of ten stars.

tieman64 What would a heist comedy look like if directed by a socialist and social-realist? Probably a bit like Ken Loach's "The Angels' Share".Released in 2012, "The Angels' Share" revolves around Robbie, a young Glaswegian caught in a seemingly inescapable cycle of violence, criminality, poverty and long-term unemployment. As the film opens, Robbie is being entered into a "community payback" scheme supervised by Harry (John Henshaw), a kindly whisky aficionado. One day, Harry takes Robbie to a rural distillery. Here he learns that a percentage of whisky evaporates during the maturing process, a process that is poetically named "the angels' share."The second half of Loach's film watches as Robbie stumbles upon a priceless casket of whiskey. Thanks to an elaborate heist, Robbie lifts several bottles of this whiskey and sells it on the black market for a large sum of money. This theft allows Robbie to skip town, escape his circumstances and build a better life for his young wife and newly born son."The Angels' Share" has been described by Loach as a "fable". As the film unfolds, Loach thus subtly injects a vein of incredulity or fantasy. Robbie becomes Loach's underclass underdog, "the angels' share" becomes an allusion to surplus value – in this case reclaimed by the exploited - and Harry the social worker becomes Robbie's angel, a kind-hearted man to whom Robbie donates a share of his loot. That the film's resolution is fantastical and contrived doesn't seem to matter to Loach. What matters to him is the righteousness of Robbie the robbers theft, a theft which most film-makers would have Robbie rejecting in favour of becoming a "mature", "reformed" and "upstanding citizen". But to Loach, even "rascals" like Robbie are deemed worthy of a share. More importantly, they have to take this share by force and deception."The Angels' Share" is political in other subtle ways. Loach's Scots are alienated even within their own homeland, inequality is widening, the lower-classes drink cheap beer and aren't privy to the fine booze their own motherland exports, and even stigmatized men like Robbie are seen to possess sophisticated palettes and keen business acumen. Elsewhere the "value" of the film's "whisky" is seen to be entirely arbitrary, dependent upon hype, hot air, market manipulation and old fashioned notions of supply and demand. "Share's" form and content are typical of late Loach; simple camera work, unfussy lighting and a plot packed with straight-forward, now non-threatening leftist-politics. Loach's working-class archetypes also haven't changed much since the 1960s, and female characters are still kept to the margins of his films. Audiences outside the United Kingdom are likely to find the film's accents incomprehensible.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Bread and Roses".

daveyboy-1 'Never judge a book by it's cover' is a line used roughly halfway through this relatively benign recent effort from British directing stalwart Ken Loach. This is a maxim to keep in mind if approaching Angel's Share with the poster's main advertising soundbite 'Scotland's answer to The Full Monty' as a trusted precursor. Like wine or whisky tasting itself, much of a film's effect is to do with the aftertaste, and it is only in the closing third of the film that the aforementioned tagline could bolster a challenge to be relevant at all, as Angel's Share, upon full viewing, provides an awkward mixture of traditional 'Loachian' working-class realism with lovable-rogue, schadenfreude comedy.There is much to like and take away from Angel's Share, including great dialogue, brilliant comedy and memorable characters. The problem is that these elements span what feels like two films fighting each other to exist in one, with neither sitting comfortably together or allowing the viewer to solidify a perspective to settle on in terms of their relation to the main characters. It could certainly be argued that this should precisely be the case for the parts of the film which reflect how ambiguously and inconsistently characters in real life can behave, but when Loach suddenly wants to do good on that tagline, all that comes before betrays the impish, happy-go-lucky final third that is well written yet foreboded by scenes not dissimilar from the violence in films like Sweet Sixteen. Imagine some of the generic, heart-warming, feel-good comedy scenes in The Full Monty interspersed with gang beatings and attempted grievous bodily harm and you can imagine the failed dichotomy displayed during Angel's Share.This disharmony in tone, however, is pleasingly the only main fault of the film, which can certainly be included as another of Loach's great accomplishments. Taken on a scene-by-scene basis, both the characters and the actors portraying them are addictively watchable, as they blunder and plunder as worst and best they can in the context of their worlds. The theme, born from the meaning of the title itself, is subtly explored and comes wonderfully full circle as that aftertaste at the end is about to kick in. There is honest drama amongst the frivolous escapading, much coming via the standout performance by John Henshaw as the poor guy charged with overseeing the group's community service tasks. It also includes the only known example to me of the use of '(I'm Gonna Be)' 500 Miles by The Proclaimers where the lyrics actually fit the context of the story as opposed to simply occupying a clip because they are Scottish (other stereotypes do exist, however, such as Irn Bru and kilt wearing, though these also exist in logical situations even if they may grate some at the front end).Loach's style is never compromised as regards to the way the film is shot, even if it strays in tone come the end of the story. Glasgow is shown rather than shown off, with barely an establishing shot in sight, helping to bring the viewer down to the level at which the characters themselves exist at - drab interiors, hostile alleyways, rundown tenement areas, etc. It is when the group set off on their daring 'heist' that the beautiful shots of the Highlands offer a sensible contrast as a visual metaphor - the job at hand providing faint hope of starting afresh (even though it is still a crime they are intending to commit). An awful, almost ten-minute tour of the whiskey distillery makes you feel like you've wandered into the filming of a tour itself rather than still watching a film, but is subsequently saved by the attempted pilfering of the 'Holy Grail' of whiskies - perfectly paced and ramped up with tension. In fact the crux of the story is so well crafted it almost makes you forget how little reason you should have to root for the success of the group's plan in the first place. Intentionally ambiguous yet jarringly inconsistent, Angel's Share succeeds in delivering an entertaining and memorable mixture of comedy and drama. Just ignore that tagline, and watch out for the aftertaste . . .

Batifoulier Marie A very good movie, positive, funny, full of energy and humor as often in Ken Loach. To see in the original version, for the invaluable accent of these Scot alive and kicking in front of what swamps them. A beautiful story. I loved this film and I came out with a light heart. Beautiful story takes a deep humanism, nice trajectory than the young offender who chooses to follow her heart line to grab a bit of trickery with the famous part of the angels who will change his life. Many of the British humor that makes their films tend to "social" is miles away from moralistic impositions that we are served in France. One thinks of Full Monty, we revel in the absurdity of nickel feet when we follow in the highlands, dressed in a kilt. It's just good, fresh, always tasteful, never headlock and perfectly controlled. A delight! A film with emotional ups and downs sometimes funny. It was a real friendship increases and changes in the film the main character. The suspense is present.