Debut film from master Loach to screen

JOY AND PAIN:Terence Stamp and Carol White in Ken Loach's first film Poor Cow.

WHANGANUI Film Society's first screening after the holiday break will be the debut feature from director Ken Loach, Poor Cow.

Eighty-year-old Loach is well known for his social realist dramas - Poor Cow was his first feature in 1967.

His most recent film I, Daniel Blake won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year (his second Palme d'Or win).

Based on the novel by Nell Dunn, Poor Cow centres on Joy (Carol White), a downtrodden wife and mother who finds a new lease of life when her husband is jailed.

Joy hooks up with guitar-strumming good-time boy Dave (Terence Stamp).

"Taking his cues from the French New Wave but adding an intimate, non-judgmental empathy all his own, Loach immerses us in the character of Joy - her loves, fears and failings," wrote Time Out reviewer Tom Huddleston.

"But Poor Cow also offers a microcosm of working-class life, with Chris Menges' restless camera winding through bustling streets and bombsites, smoky pubs and poky flats.

"Poor Cow is a remarkable film, a time-capsule character study of great warmth and compassion."

Loach's better known second film, Kes, from 1969, will also screen in this year's film society programme on November 13.

Poor Cow screens at the Davis Theatre, Whanganui Regional Museum at 7pm on Monday, May 1.