Meantime (1984) (TV)

Director:

Mike Leigh

Writer:

Mike Leigh (deviser)

Release Date:

23 July 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An odd film, primarily looking at how the dole affects the underclass in Britain. Tim Roth stars as Colin...

Plot Keywords:

Skinhead | Soccer Ball | Listening To Music | Kitchen Sink | Crying

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Marion Bailey	...	Barbara
Phil Daniels	...	Mark
Tim Roth	...	Colin
Pam Ferris	...	Mavis
Jeff Robert	...	Frank
Alfred Molina	...	John
Gary Oldman	...	Coxy
Tilly Vosburgh	...	Hayley
Paul Daly	...	Rusty
Leila Bertrand	...	Hayley's Friend
Hepburn Graham	...	Boyfriend
Peter Wight	...	Estate Manager
Eileen Davies	...	Unemployment Benefit Clerk
Herbert Norville	...	Man in Pub
Brian Hoskin	...	Barman

Runtime:

90 min | USA:102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | UK:15

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Central Production

Another terrific film from Leigh

I'm a big fan of Mike Leigh's gritty films, and 'Meantime' fits well into his admirable canon. He examines the lives of 'ordinary people' unlike any other filmmaker I know. Here, his microscope (forget the lens) is on a NON-working class (perhaps proletarian without the peasant's earth) family in 'estate' housing in the wretched suburbs of London.

Once again, as in all his films, Leigh, using his well-known improvisational rehearsal-and-execution technique, receives razor-sharp performances from his cast. At the centre of this work are two simply superb performances: Phil Daniels as Mark and Tim Roth as his mentally 'slow' younger brother Colin. Anyone who has had a sibling will recognize the evolution of the relationship between these two. It's universal in its reach.

Splendid acting abounds and carries 'Meantime'. As the parents, Jeff Robert and Pam Ferris are all-but-tactile with their sizzling frustration and rage. Gary Oldman as a deeply disaffected youngster is wonderful. A very brief scene where he rolls in a barrel, mindlessly banging it with both hands, is both riveting and disturbing.

The quibbles I have with this film are perhaps minor to some, but of concern to me. One is Andrew Dickson's music. Is that a zither playing in an Egyptian carnival dance band? It is initially just jarring, but then it becomes downright annoying and intrusive.

I quite frankly could have used subtitles in 'Meantime'. Whole sentences just went past me. It's necessary for the stark social realism of Leigh's settings, but for non-Londoners, this can, at times, be rough going. I listened to fragments of this dialogue and it became an exercise in linguistic irony: these characters live in the country where the English language was BORN.

Doesn't matter; it's still a great and very moving film.