The Old Oak

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2:15

The Old Oak

Released Apr 5

1h 53m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

82%

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93 Reviews

75%

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100+ Ratings

The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope. The release of The Old Oak reunites legendary British director Ken Loach with Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber following our 2020 release of his film Sorry We Missed You. Loach, who is 87 years old, has announced that The Old Oak will be his final film.

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Critics Consensus

Imbued with the fiercely humanistic spirit that has defined Ken Loach's filmography, The Old Oak serves as a fitting -- albeit somewhat sentimental -- finale to a remarkable career.

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Christina Newland

iNews.co.uk

Loach and his screenwriter Paul Lavery are sometimes painfully on-the-nose, borderline parodic, in their contrived kitchen sink sensibilities.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 18, 2024

Full Review

Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

The final scene of “The Old Oak” reduced me, once again and for the final time, to tears.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 14, 2024

Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

It is unmistakably a Loach film: taciturn yet forthright, examining life in the cracks of a fractured society with deep compassion, plain-spoken anger and, perhaps more so than in the previous two films, a shot of hope.

Rated: 3/4

May 3, 2024

Full Review

Clotilde Chinnici

Loud and Clear Reviews

Much like Bannatyne and the food initiative give hope to the town, The Old Oak is a beacon of hope in an otherwise cruel and vicious world where, as suggested by the movie, people have to choose between affording heating or food .

Rated: 5/5

Sep 15, 2024

Full Review

Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

The welcome humanism of Loach but broached with clumsy and overused overtness. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 6, 2024

Full Review

Paula Vázquez Prieto

La Nación (Argentina)

[Loach] is capable of building praiseworthy characters, who live beyond the screen and endowing them with a painful, aggrieved, hardened humanity. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Sep 6, 2024

Full Review

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Deborah

Fabulous, tear-jerky, heart-warming

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/15/24

Full Review

Roy J

This is what the art of filmmaking is all about. To empathize with characters you've never encountered before. I hope Ken Loach doesn't retire because he's still got it!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/17/24

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D M

Some films make you laugh, some entertain you, some warm your heart. Sometimes a film can change your viewpoint Superb stuff.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/22/24

Full Review

Michele D

Beautiful Film. Thank you forever Ken Loach. You're one of a kind. So appreciated.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/29/24

Full Review

juliette et nahya n

This movie is a call for solidarity in front of contemporaries' issues. We are all humans and there are no borders, no languages, or skin color who can break the brotherhood and that’s exactly the message of this movie. It will not be the most entertaining and fascinating movie you will see but that doesn't make it less emotional.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/30/24

Full Review

jana l

If you had the idea to watch this movie you need to know some things about it. It was directed by Ken Loach in 2023. If you are here, it is because you planned to watch it, and it is not long, so that is great! For my point of view, it is a good movie that denounce in unusual way the war in Syria and how the immigrants were welcomed in the village of Easington Colliery in the county of Durkam. I loved how they showed the reality of life and that we do not live in a pink world because not every citizen wanted to help the refugees. In my point of view at the end of the movie it shows that we can live together and stick together because we are all human and that for a human being, we all want people to be happy even if we do not love them because of their difference and their stories as you would see on the film. I loved how the director made the point of view of all the characters and made the story of the movie even harder because of all their stories. For me it was not boring because of all the interesting stories of everyone and how they loved it. If I had to name my favorite character, I would say Tommy Joe the owner of the pub because he is the definition of the men that we fought had no story but instead he was dealing with so many problems that we could not suspect. It made me realize that the movie shows how difficult leaving your country is but also how brave some people who are sometime poorer than the rest but are the first who are trying to help others, and that is what I loved in that movie.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/30/24

Full Review

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Ken Loach

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The Old Oak: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope. The release of The Old Oak reunites legendary British director Ken Loach with Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber following our 2020 release of his film Sorry We Missed You. Loach, who is 87 years old, has announced that The Old Oak will be his final film.

Director: Ken Loach
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien, Pascal Caucheteux
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty, Paul Laverty
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
Production Co: Why Not Productions, StudioCanal UK, Les Films du Fleuve, Sixteen Films, BBC Film
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 5, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 4, 2024
Box Office (Gross USA): $229.7K
Runtime: 1h 53m

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