Rent Sorry We Missed You (2019)

Gut wrenching - Sorry We Missed You review by MH

You'll never view a delivery driver in the same way again. Or complain about one. This should be compulsory viewing for everyone who orders goods online for home delivery.

Harrowing & affecting drama - Sorry We Missed You review by AW

Loach doing what he does best. Thoroughly engaging characters and gripping story. I found it mesmerising.  

Loach can't retire in times such as these - Sorry We Missed You review by JB

Ken Loaches' last film dealt with the iniquities of the current benefits system and its administration. This one takes on the gig economy and the zero hours contract culture, and for good measure the low pay and appalling conditions of service of  home care workers. Both parents in this movie about a family must work - as is the usual case today - and both sets of problems they face at work are different aspects of a collapsing late capitalist society poorly and chaotically governed and hopelessly  lacking in compassion. Loach shows us how these conditions impact on family life and in so doing how they destroy the 'family values' still endorsed by rightwing governments  - which have lost their way but not achieved insight into the level of hypocrisy which somehow sustains them. It wouldn't be right to call Sorry I Missed You enjoyable. It is very sad in its accurate portrayal of the lives of very many people in the UK today.

Powerful and unmissable - Sorry We Missed You review by Darius

Before Covid-19, we kept being told how unemployment was at an all-time low. This film lays bare how insecure and precarious some of these newly-created "jobs" are and gives us an insight into working conditions of come of those working in the Gig economy. We learn how the main character, a parcel courier, is "self-employed", so enjoys no such luxuries as holiday pay, yet has his round prescribed and gets fined £100 (on top of his day's earnings) if he has to take a day off for family reasons. When he gets beaten up and has his parcels stolen, he is required to pay £500 to cover the cost of two passports that were stolen, as well as £1,000 for the tracker he's required to carry around with him, which beeps if he leaves his van for two minutes to answer the call of nature (hence he's provided with a bottle to piss in). His wife, "employed" as a carer, endures similarly abysmal employment conditions, being unpaid for her two hours' "break" during her 14-hour day and having to pay her own bus fares to her various calls.

This film will cause those of us lucky enough to enjoy regular, full-time employment to count our blessings and caused me to reflect on my irritation recently towards a courier who put an empty Amazon package through my door. A powerful, angry film that everyone should see.

Tough but powerful viewing. - Sorry We Missed You review by IS

Hoping that self employment through the gig economy can solve their financial issues a family quickly realise the potentially destructive and brutal nature of that employment culture.

Another powerful social commentary of aspects of life in Britain today from Ken Loach.

Once again he shines a light on the plight of many working class people and the issues that they face.

Loach does this so well, and again the message is in your face from the beginning and it starkly shows some of the dangers of Zero hours contracts for many.

Like ‘I am Daniel Blake’ before it, it is not an easy watch, less so because I can relate to many aspects of it from my own life and also many people that I know that face these very challenges today.

Loach took the brave risk of using a cast largely made up of amateur actors, which although obvious in many scenes, it does add a further sense of reality in to the film.

A good film with a powerful message but a tough watch.

Fighting injustice - Sorry We Missed You review by EW

This powerful and moving film is a call to fight injustice, and should be viewed by as many people as possible.

A distressing but true-to-life film - Sorry We Missed You review by FM

As a great respector of Ken Loach films, I found this one particulary realistic and distressing - not light entertainment!

Having been involved in a debt advice service, I know how easy it is for people to fall into debt despite trying their utmost to manage.

Hope this will an an eyeopener to people who have little idea of how people manage who live with a limited and uncertain income.