Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #38. Ken Loach’s The Old Oak

Published on January 17, 2023

The Old Oak

The film universe is a better place with the film of Ken Loach. Working class portrait bliss, Loach last gave us a reason to think about our online order habit realities via Sorry We Missed You and now we find ourselves ordering a final pint in a drama that was shot in the North East of England last May. Featuring Dave Turner (featured in his previous film) and Ebla Mari, the octogenarian and two-time Palme d’Or winner saw his The Old Oak find prod company partners in StudioCanal UK and Why Not Productions. Loach reteams with scribe Paul Laverty and Sixteen Films’ producer Rebecca O’Brien.

Gist: Not only is it the last pub standing, but it’s also the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once-thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Turner), the landlord, hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his predicament is endangered even more when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in the village without any notice.

Release Date/Prediction: This will contend for a third Palme d’Or next May.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).