... Loach's characteristic attention to detail renders the film a period piece.
[3] There is some Yorkshire dialect in the film, although not as much as in previous Loach-Hines collaborations such as Kes and The Price of Coal.
A review in The New York Times gave the film a positive review and praised the acting, but complained about Loach's policy of using the actors' natural accents on the grounds that "a great deal of the dialogue remains unintelligible to the American ear.
"[4] A 2016 Guardian article wrote, "Even the most devoted fan found 1981’s Looks & Smiles painfully miserable".
[8] He also considered it "the end of an era" as he avoided long camera shots in subsequent films.