Directed by Ken Loach
Written by Paul Laverty
Starring Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone, and Katie Proctor
Running time 1 hour 41 minutes

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer

Anyone who’s taken an Uber or Lyft, hired a babysitter from Care.com, found someone to clean their house via Handy, had groceries delivered from Instacart, taken a short-term job found on Fiverr or Upwork, or had dinner delivered by Skip the Dishes, Deliveroo, or Uber Eats is familiar with the gig economy. According to Harvard Business Review, since 2018, approximately 150 million workers in North America and Western Europe have left full-time positions to become temporary or independent contractors, either by choice or because of downsizing. Tempted by empty promises of being your own boss, setting your own rules, and not being just another employee in the traditional sense has brought many people to technology-driven gigs. Due to the often inconsistent nature of these roles, independent workers often experience increased stress levels, have poor or nonexistent health benefits, work unusual or long hours, and have a lack of control over their general employability. Anecdotally, many Uber and Lyft drivers I’ve spoken to over the years have extolled the virtues of clocking in and out when they want and being their own bosses. But most of these same drivers also indicated they work multiple jobs and work round the clock. Over the past ten years or so, I’ve pretty consistently held full and part-time jobs simultaneously, but always at positions where I was a regular employee. So what does it really feel like to be part of the gig economy?

Acclaimed British director Ken Loach, not one to shy away from socially conscious topics, wants us to truly feel what the gig economy can do to people and their families. His latest film, Sorry We Missed You, feels like a companion to the stylish, wild, elegant, class warfare in last year’s Parasite. While the protagonists in Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece struggle to find regular work, Sorry We Missed You’s Ricky and Abbie work too damn much for too little pay and benefits. Ricky, downsized after the 2008 economic downturn, has just signed on to a delivery company as an independent driver. From the start, we find him in a lurch. He can either buy his own delivery van (which he can’t afford) or rent one from the company at 65 GBP a day. To make it work, they sell Abbie’s car to afford the down-payment for the van. As a care worker, Abbie must now travel by bus to visit all of her clients, often starting with her first patient at 7:30 am and tucking in her last at 9:30 pm. Ricky rushes from delivery to delivery, navigating traffic, police, precise delivery deadlines (known as “precisors”), and surly residents who only care about getting their packages as immediately as possible, no matter the sacrifice by others. Their stress is felt on a daily basis as the two struggle nearly every moment of every day. Abbie most closely resembles an angel walking this goddamn earth – she puts out fires daily, originating from both her family and her patients (who her employer calls “clients” much to her chagrin), navigating everything from emergency parent-teacher conferences to fighting with her employer to get paid for an extra hour of highly necessary but unforeseen time spent with a patient. As a viewer, you’re only watching their harrowing existence day in and day out, yet the experience is nevertheless intense, frustrating, and exhausting.

Ricky and Abbie’s never-ending need to hustle has negative impacts on their two children, also innately given over to caring for their constantly busy parents. Young Liza is a bright, kindhearted middle schooler whose inability to sleep each night allows her to stay up and wait for her mom’s arrival at the end of each long workday. In an alternate universe, their high school-age son, Seb, would be preparing for uni. He’s witty and intelligent and creative, yet overwhelmed by the lack of opportunities for his parents and people his age. When Ricky and Abbie make a case for him to further his education, he balks at the prospect of graduating, only to work a lowly job to pay off burdensome student loan debt. He makes a great point there, but Seb’s current troubles only add more stress to the family.

The beautiful silver lining to their daily struggles? They have each other. Sorry We Missed You makes a case for the beauty that can come from positive family connections. We see a lot of movies about families that suck the life out of each other, but this family gets an A*. The strongest moment in the film highlights a rare family night together – they order curry takeaway, enjoy each other’s company, and rally around Abbie as her favorite patient has a medical emergency. All four of them, despite individual challenges and issues, find strength within their family group. They are literally all they have, and with the love they have for each other, the way they work together, that’s not necessarily so bad.

While the script finds our family unit juggling so much stress and anxiety, technically the film executes it all in a highly realistic way, employing mostly first-time film actors into roles they seem tailor-made for. Kris Hitchen as Ricky and Debbie Honeywood as Abbie have considerable emotional hurdles to climb in their depiction of individuals doing daily battle as workers, spouses, and parents. Rhys Stone ably peels back the many layers of Seb – there is more to him than just a rowdy, manic, tormented teen, and his acting capably displays that. But my favorite performance comes from young Katie Proctor as Liza – she infuses her role with so much warmth and natural ability. I can see her easily doing more with her talents in the future. The ultra-realism Loach infuses in every second makes for a disarming viewing experience – I was gutted from one moment to the next, waiting for setback after setback, as the hits kept coming and coming. An alternate title for the film could be Are You Having a Laugh?, as the common British expression is repeated by Ricky and Abbie multiple times after enduring a multitude of trials, like when Seb gets arrested and Ricky’s truck is robbed during a delivery. Sorry We Missed You is certainly no joke, no laughing matter, but something we all need to experience with open eyes.