REVIEWS
78 | Sight&Sound | November 2019
life in the Rust Belt is even more hands-off
- characters identify their origins by state
rather than town or region, as no Midwesterner
has ever done, and when Bryon notes that Julie
comes from Michigan, he wonders at the length
of her drive to Toledo, which in point of fact is
situated smack on the Ohio-Michigan border.
These are quibbles, perhaps, and this space
might be better spent discussing the film’s
performances and widescreen cinematography
— all undistinguished, incidentally — but I
can’t escape the impression that such quibbles
are especially necessary when dealing with a
film as self-important and overreaching as Skin.
For when an artist can’t be trusted to sort out
the small things, it’s a sure sign that you need
to be wary of how they handle the big ones.
Columbus, Ohio, 2009. A neo-Nazi group clashes with
protesters during a march. Bryon Widner, a skinhead
with facial tattoos, attacks a young black man and
carves a swastika into his face, before retreating
with his ‘family’ – white supremacists Fred and
Shareen Krager — to their Vinlanders Social Club
compound outside Toledo. At a white supremacist
social function, Bryon meets Julie, a single mother
of three daughters living in Michigan. They begin a
relationship, and Bryon is torn between his loyalty
to the Kragers, who took him in as an abused kid,
and to Julie and her children, whom she doesn’t
want raised around white supremacist violence.
Participating with his ‘brothers’ in the burning of
an Islamic centre, Bryon encounters Arab workers
sleeping on the premises and covertly warns them
to save themselves. Moving with Julie to Indiana,
he tries to take up a normal domestic life, but the
Vinlanders group drag him back to Toledo to confront
him on the issue of the surviving Arab workers. Shot
during a scuffle and in fear of his life, Bryon reaches
out to Daryle Lamont Jenkins, a black man who
aids former white supremacists trying to leave the
lifestyle. Bryon provides evidence that leads to the
downfall of the Vinlanders Social Club. He has his
tattoos removed and begins a normal life with Julie.
Produced by
Jaime Ray Newman
Guy Nattiv
Oren Moverman
Celine Rattray
Trudie Styler
Dillon D. Jordan
Written by
Guy Nattiv
Director of
Photography
Arnaud Potier
Edited by
Lee Percy
Michael Taylor
Production
Designer
Mary Lena Colston
Music
Dan Romer
Sound Mixer
Dan Bricker
Costume Designer
Mirren Gordon-
Crozier
©SF Film LLC
Production
Companies
Voltage Pictures
and Maven Pictures
present a Sight
Unseen Pictures,
New Native Pictures
production and
a Paperchase
Films, Lost Lane
Entertainment
production
A Tugawood Pictures
production
A Brookstreet
Pictures, Come What
May production
In association
with Hua Wen
Movie Group
Executive
Producers
Zachery Ty
Bryan Nic Marshall
Robert L. Hymers III
Trevor Matthews
Nick Gordon
Lee-Ann Corry
Tommee May
Dale Rosenbloom
Meriam Alrashid
Krios Song
Peter Sobiloff
Michael Sobiloff
Shaohua Huang
Na Yang
Daniel Negreanu
David Kang
Lawrence Cancellieri
Randy Cancellieri
Enrico Saraiva
Mario Peixoto
Siena Oberman
Gabriel Napora
Yas Taalat
Eddie Vaisman
Julia Lebedev
Cast
Jamie Bell
Bryon Widner
Danielle Macdonald
Julie Price
Daniel Henshall
Slayer
Bill Camp
Fred Krager,
‘Hammer’
Louisa Krause
April
Zoe Colletti
Desiree
Kylie Rogers
Sierra
Colbi Gannett
Ingrid
Mike Colter
Daryle Jenkins
Vera Farmiga
Shareen Krager
Mary Stuart
Masterson
Agent Jackie Marks
Russell Posner
Gavin
In Colour
[2.35:1]
Distributor
Lionsgate UK
Credits and Synopsis
Reviewed by Trevor Johnston
There was always a danger that, with its similar
Tyneside setting and not unrelated subject matter,
this latest offering from the long-established
team of screenwriter Paul Laverty and director
Ken Loach might appear to be an adjunct or
rerun of their 2016 triumph I, Daniel Blake. A
saga of an ordinary family enmeshed in the
machinations of the gig economy, it could be seen
as a private-sector variant on its Cannes-winning
predecessor’s welfare-state cautionary tale. While
Sorry We Missed You may not be as sentimentally
affecting as that earlier film, it delivers a more
nuanced, troubling and provocative state-of-
the-nation address. As such, it’s surely among
Loach and Laverty’s most sinewy efforts.
No, there’s nothing here with the pile-driving
impact of the food-bank scene in Daniel Blake,
but as a story about ordinary people trying to
better themselves through work, rather than the
deserving poor receiving appalling treatment
from social services, the new film strikes a
different tone. Right from the start, we hope that,
after years of casual labouring, hard-up dad Ricky
(Kris Hitchen) knows what he’s letting himself
in for when he signs up for a franchised courier
company, which follows the Uber model of
treating its workers as self-employed contractors
rather than employees. The notion that he’ll
somehow be his own man definitely appeals
to Ricky, who is desperate to move his family
out of overpriced rental accommodation and
Sorry We Missed You
United Kingdom/France/Belgium 2019
Director: Ken Loach
Certificate 15 101m 22s
Newcastle upon Tyne, the present. Ricky, a labourer
without regular employment, takes a job with a
franchised delivery company, selling the family car
to purchase the white van that he’s expected to
provide. Wife Abby, a homecare assistant for an NHS
subcontractor, must now rely on public transport, and
when Ricky starts work, with a handheld device tracking
his every move, they have even less time to spend at
home. Eleven-year-old daughter Liza Jane is the stable
centre of the family, as the workload puts a strain
her parents’ marriage. Her older brother Seb – bright
and artistic but unsettled at school – hangs around
with a graffiti gang. This sparks conflict with Ricky,
who worries that his son is harming his education.
When Seb gets into trouble with the police, Ricky’s
fears seem to be realised. At work, the need to meet
near-impossible delivery targets piles the pressure
on Ricky, while tensions at home escalate after Seb
spray-paints over the family’s photographs. When
Ricky awakens to discover the disarray, his van keys
are missing, leaving him unable to work. Seb eventually
returns, whereupon Liza Jane reveals that she took
the keys to keep her father at home. Nevertheless, he
goes to work, and when he’s ambushed and attacked
during a job, he must pay for the stolen items. Debbie
berates his unfeeling manager. Though she and the
children try to prevent him, a battered Ricky gets back
in the van. As he drives off, he screams in anguish.
Producer
Rebecca O’Brien
Screenplay
Paul Laverty
Photography
Robbie Ryan
Editor
Jonathan Morris
Production Designer
Fergus Clegg
Music
George Fenton
Recordist
Ray Beckett
Costume Designer
Joanne Slater
©Sixteen SWMY
Limited, Why Not
Productions, Wild
Bunch, Les Films
du Fleuve, British
Broadcasting
Corporation and The
British Film Institute
Production
Companies
Sixteen Films, Why
Not Productions,
Wild Bunch, BFI,
BBC Films, Les Films
du Fleuve, France 2
Cinéma, CANAL+,
France Télévisions,
Le Pacte, Cinéart,
CINE+, VOO and Be tv
Made with the
support of the
BFI’s Film Fund
Executive Producers
Pascal Caucheteux
Grégoire Sorlat
Vincent Maraval
Cast
Kris Hitchen
Ricky
Debbie Honeywood
Abby
Rhys Stone
Seb
Katie Proctor
Liza Jane
Ross Brewster
Maloney
Charlie Richmond
Henry
Julian Ions
Freddie
Sheila Dunkeley
Rosie
Maxie Peters
Robert
Christopher
John Slater
Ben
Heather Wood
Mollie
Alberto Dumba
Harpoon
In Colour
[1.85:1]
Distributor
Entertainment One
Deliver us: Kris Hitchen, Katie Proctor
Credits and Synopsis
A RT
PRODUCTION
CLIENT
SUBS
REPRO OP
VERSION
Reviews, 10
