The Old Oak (#554)

I saw a second film this weekend with a dear friend in suburban New York in a theater she discovered in another suburban town.  Obviously a theater that does not appear to feature conventional films since neither Wildcat nor THE OLD OAK were ever previewed in my theater at home.  This one I would describe as an old fashioned classical melodrama, well acted, well directed and well photographed.  It takes place in Northern England in a once thriving mining town that has fallen on hard times as the mines have closed.  The Old Oak is the town tavern owned and operated by a nice guy named T.J.  It appears to be the last vestige of social intercourse in the town.  A family of impoverished Syrian refugees move into town and a friendly but unlikely relationship develops between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Tara.  The equally impoverished townspeople begin to resent the immigrants, and there is an increasingly prevalent and sometimes violent situation developing.  They don't make movies like this any more, and it was a pleasure to watch it unfold.  The only drawback at the start was the distinct and difficult to understand dialect spoken by all the residents, but fortunately the filmmakers realized this and used subtitles. After about 10 minutes I was able to comprehend the dialect easily and didn't need the subtitles.  81% of critics and 78% of audiences joined us in appreciation of this film.