Synopsis
A morality tale of xenophobia, religious prejudice, mob violence, poverty, and their effect on two children in Liverpool during the Depression. When a shipyard closes, Liam and Teresa's dad loses his job. Liam, who's about 8, making his first Holy Communion, gets a regular dose of fire and brimstone at church. Teresa, about 13, has a job as a maid to the Jewish family that owns the closed shipyard. The lady of that house is having an affair, and Teresa becomes an accomplice. Liam stutters terribly, especially when troubled. Dad comes under the sway of the Fascists, who blame cheap Irish labor and Jewish owners. A Molotov cocktail brings things to a head.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Ian HartDad
- Claire HackettMum
- Anthony BorrowsLiam
- David HartCon
- Megan BurnsTeresa
- Anne ReidMrs. Abernathy
- Russell DixonFather Ryan
- Jane GurnettMrs Samuels
- Gema LovedayJane Samuels
- Julia DeakinAggie
Recommendations
- 100
San Francisco Chronicle
Downbeat, ultimately tragic, but there's a wondrous, sad beauty here. - 88
USA Today
Ultimately grim, Liam is ripe in humanity --and even comedy. - 75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
What's left at the end is an emotionally restrained vision of harsh, impoverished lives, more thoughtful than affecting, and never less than gorgeous, but so unfocused it leaves only scattered impressions. - 75
New York Post
Director Frears, in a radical shift from "High Fidelity," again (as in "Dangerous Liaisons") shows he's a master of period detail and subtle storytelling -- and the performances couldn't be more on the money. - 75
Boston Globe
Frears makes every note count for a lot in this beautifully gauged microcosm of big emotions expressed in small gestures. - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
While there are similarities to the hardscrabble saga of "Angela's Ashes," Frears' film avoids the mawkish pitfalls of Alan Parker's screen adaptation. - 70
New Times (L.A.)
Though the film came out a year ago in the U.K., the timing here is unfortunate, and one has to wish that, like so many bigger productions, Liam could have migrated to a more-distant release date. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Has some rapturously observant sequences concerning childhood.
