I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Drama

Directors: Ken Loach, Laura Obiols
Writer: Paul Laverty
Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan

"An Emotional Gut Punch!"

Daniel Blake has worked as a joiner most of his life in Newcastle. Now, for the first time ever, he needs help from the State. He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one-roomed homeless hostel in London has been to accept a flat in a city she doesn’t know, some 300 miles away. Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man’s land, caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy as played out against the rhetoric of ‘striver and skiver’ in modern day Britain.

Plot summary from IMDb: A 59 year old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate their way through the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humor, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end.

Awards: Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 24 wins & 30 nominations.
Runtime: 100 min
R