Lack of good storyline.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

For me, there are two things at work here. One is the movie itself, and the other is the message in the movie. You can have an important message present in a less than brilliant film. This film is very good, but it's message is even greater. Now, in February 2016, Bernie Sanders is campaigning for president on the platform of ending Wall Street and banking abuses. He's campaigning for a decent livable minimum wage, and for universal health care. It has always been a struggle between the haves and have-nots. Jimmy is a symbol of all who strive to survive while living in the midst of oppression by the 1%. The photography in the film is first-rate, with many scenes full of rich side-lighting reminding me of Vermeer. The cast is flawless and their daily struggles very true to life. There is no scene chewing, and most performances are quietly real and effective. It was a moving and rewarding experience. On a side note, I came away with tremendous respect for the Irish character. In the midst of hardship in Jimmy's hall, the poor celebrated their true culture, their music, poetry, and dance. It's really a human tragedy that we must play out the same struggle in America 84 years later. Only now it's the conflict between the poor who must drink poisoned water in Flint, while the "Lords" scheme to get more money and power in the Koch brothers boardroom. It will always be so.

This is the first time I see a Ken Loach a movie, and I was not disappointed. All characters deliver solid to very good performances, the scenario is both subtle and not over- complicated, and the setting is enjoyable, as it offers a unique perspective on the 30's, seen from an agrarian Ireland.It does have its weaknesses though. The movie starts with a good rhythm, a pace it sadly does not manage to keep. The last third of the movie feels needlessly slow and long.Another problem is the way this movie seems to deliver a very subjective view of the opposition between the working class and politics.Still very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Ken Loach probably intended this film to be an ode to freedom. The freedom to do whatever you like, without an oppressive authority laying out the rules. In this particular case, the oppressive authority is the catholic church in Ireland, and the people fighting for freedom are the ordinary farmers and citizens, building their own community hall where they can dance, sing, play music and organize other events. The intention is good, but Loach delivers his message in a clumsy way. 'Jimmy's Hall' is a film without sharp edges, a one-dimensional tale of good and bad. The good guy is Jimmy, who returns to the Irish countryside after ten years in New York. The locals ask him to rebuild the old community hall, but when it is finished he has to confront the bad guy: the local priest, who considers the hall to be a threat to the power base of the catholic church. The supporters of the hall do everything they can, but in the end they can't win from such a powerful and oppressive institute. The raw realism from some of Loach's earlier films is completely missing here. The characters are hardly realistic - Jimmy is the hero and the priest is a villain. The script is completely one- dimensional. Jimmy is so holier-than-thou that he doesn't even try to win back the love of his one-time sweetheart Oonagh, because now she is married with children. In one scene, the two dance together in the dark silent hall. Loach probably meant this as a heart-breaking scene, but failed.The acting and the dialogue are stiff and unnatural. At one point, Jimmy's supporters discuss if they should attend a meeting in support of a homeless family. Some are against, because they think this could lead to the closing down of the hall. They politely exchange arguments, in well-formulated sentences. No shouting, no emotions, no cursing. It's like watching a stage play. And not even a good one. Let me be clear: not everything is terrible. 'Jimmy's Hall' is beautifully filmed, and brings an unsavoury aspect of pre-war Ireland to attention. But it is definitely not one of Ken Loach's best movies.

Except for the theme, you can't really recognize it's a Ken Loach film. It's over sentimental, well completely cheesy, horribly Manichean, it has some the most terrible and stiff acting i've seen in years. The scene where Jimmy's old love try the dress he has given her and where they dance together is awkward and disgustingly lit, the least subtle thing in a film that walks with big heavy wooden clogs. The end is a pastiche of Dead Poet Society's ending, some young smiling idiots are chanting for him while cycling behind the police van that is taking our failed hero back to America where he is deported, thank god for us. For a director that has done so much for English cinema, Riff Raff, Lady Bug Lady Bug, Poor Cow ... that made the most political and original films with economy of dialogs, bright and clever scripts, to be reduced to do a ultra conventional period drama, that sometimes over explain things to us like we're complete morons and sometimes is so historically or even narratively so vague to the point where it becomes laughable more than understandable is not only a shame but a waste of talent. It's meant to be all deep and political but in the end it's just a tower of clichés and a competition of bad acting belching a compilation of debilitating dialogs. He said he wanted to stop cinema after doing this atrocious crime against cinema, he should have stop before doing Carla's Song and save us from suffering in front of those boring films that resembles the most soporific history classes of our teenage hood, save THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, is only decent film in the last 20 years of his career. To see a Director sabotaging his legacy is not only appalling but depressing.