Black Jack
Dir: Ken Loach
1979
****
One of Ken Loach's first period pieces, Black Jack's real pull is its realism. Nothing is tarted up for the screen, it feels like you have a very real window into the past in front of you, complete with regional dialect and a very natural sounding script. However, this realism never takes away the feeling of adventure and fantasy that the story has. The cast of mainly non-actors is great too, with young Stephen Hirst and Andrew Bennett stealing the show in my opinion. Based on Leon Garfield's novel and an inspiration to Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, Black Jack is quite the unsung gem.