Drama > Leigh, Mike Drama

Leigh's most accessible film to date

Advantages: superb acting, strong subject, faithful recreation of post-war Britain
Disadvantages: none

...Imelda Staunton's impressive performance as Vera Drake that holds the film together and ultimately makes us care about what happens to her after sentencing, long after the film credits have rolled. Staunton's ability to create a character who is both a saint and a criminal (for 1950 England) and gain our sympathy in the process should have earned her a well deserved Oscar, that is without context. The subject itself- illegal abortions in post-war ...
...though the introductory scenes show Vera singing while going about her various activities (working as a cleaning lady, helping the ill, cooking or mending for her husband and children) she does so in a low singsong. There is even a scene where she is polishing the fireplace at one of her employers' and the lady of the house almost acts as if Vera was not there, almost stepping on her, as if she was invisible. Vera Drake is a quiet busy bee with a ...

gijoe1974 14.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Vera Drake (DVD)

Mikado restore equilibrium

Advantages: Biopic of Gilbert and Sullivan, comic period drama
Disadvantages: Quite slow in part. 160 mins in length

William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are undisputed masters of operetta. Mike Leigh wrote and directed the film “Topsy-Turvy” in 1999 as a tribute to their work. The film focuses on a specific time in the pair’s career. A period drama set in 1884, at a time when Gilbert and Sullivan were at the height of their fame. They had already had ten successful productions. However, their latest work, Princess Ida, is a disaster. Sullivan, the composer (Allan ...
...the flop on the inane and repetitive plots devised by his partner Gilbert (Jim Broadbent). However the two are contractually obliged by D’Oyly Carte and the Savoy Theatre, to continue their collaboration. In a meeting intended to improve relations and to plan their next production, Gilbert outlines a scenario for the next production to which Sullivan replies, "Oh, Gilbert! You and your world of Topsy-Turvy-dom”. Things look bleak until Gilbert has ...

MAFARRIMOND 19.09.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Topsy-Turvy (DVD)

The Underpriveleged Londoners

Advantages: seemingly realistic, thoughtprovoking
Disadvantages: a bit boring to watch at times

It is said that all great art comes from suffering. Does this imply that the viewing of said art causes suffering in the viewer, as it shines through in the work? Who knows. What I'm getting at is that some critically acclaimed, award winning and so called 'artsy' films can be somewhat hard watching. That sometimes you must sit through the first minutes, perhaps not enjoying it, until you warm up a bit and start to get into it. Well this is what ...
...seen. The families' homes are all decorated in drab neutrals, as are the clothes on their backs. Could be saying that bright and bold colours are only for the more priveleged, or maybe just to reinforce the peoples' lives are comparitively quite drab. The camera work is almost documentary-like, in that it is very steady, barely moving, I suppose so as not to distract the viewer from what is happening in the picture. Because the film is so seemingly ...

Pyrokeet 12.08.2007 · Read full review
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Review of All Or Nothing (DVD)

◄♦ SECRETS AND LIES ♦►

Advantages: A brilliant film we can all relate to on one level or another
Disadvantages: None.

◄♦ Secrets and Lies.♦► ~ Secrets and lies is a morality tale. Produced in 1996. Directed by Mike Leigh and Screenplay by Mike Leigh. It falls into the category: Drama. The film company was Channel 4 films, and it is a film that is hysterically funny, and poignantly sad, from one moment to the next.~ ◄Synopsis► The film opens with us witnessing a Funeral. There is young woman attending that the camera focuses ...
...mother, and the mothers death brings forth a real need in the woman, Hortence Cumberbatch played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, to trace her birth mother. Hortences father had died a few years ago, and now realising she is now on her own, brings about thoughts of what her birth mother might be like, if indeed she is still alive. So Hortence decides to go through the Authorities, to begin the slow, painful, search process for her birth mother. Hortence ...

Morning_Becomes_Electra 03.11.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Secrets And Lies (DVD)

Meantime : The trials & tribulations of a dysfunctional family

Advantages: Extremely well-acted, amusing, absorbing
Disadvantages: The reproduction sadly isn't as high quality as it could be

"Meantime" is a Mike Leigh film which I believe was initially made for television, and later released on video, CD and DVD. I'm not sure if the script was largely adlibbed by the actors (as is often the case with Mike Leigh's work) or whether the cast had definite lines to work with. I first saw "Meantime" on TV in 1984, and despite me being in a not very good frame of mind at the time due to life's little turmoils, my eyes were fixed to the screen ...
...a story as such - in what is often Mike Leigh's style, it homes in on characters rather than a story line, and as the whole thing unfolds, various individuals within the situation reveal unexpected parts of their personalities. It really is just a slice of a family's life. Mavis and her husband Frank live with their two teenage sons (Mark and Colin) in a crumbling tower block in London's East End. Life is a battle for the family, and their days ...

CelticSoulSister 28.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Meantime (DVD)