Sweet Sixteen

Sweet Sixteen (2002) — watch online on iFILM. Ken Loach's crime drama follows Liam, a sixteen-year-old in a depressed Scottish town where unemployment and drug dealing are the only constants. His mother is doing time. His stepfather runs the local trade. His sister is barely older than him and already raising a child alone.

Liam's plan is simple: earn enough to rent a flat so his mother walks out of prison into something clean, not back to the man who put her there. The only money in Greenock comes with conditions. Martin Compston, a non-professional actor Loach discovered locally, carries every scene — raw, direct, impossible to look away from. Paul Laverty's screenplay won Best Screenplay at Cannes 2002.

Loach shoots with his usual refusal to soften edges. No redemption arc is promised, no lesson is spelled out. The film simply follows Liam to the point where the logic of his choices becomes unavoidable. Stream Sweet Sixteen online on iFILM.