Best Mike Leigh movie?

[del_bake]

Hey all, just thought i'd throw the dice on the table and see if there were any other Mike Leigh fans out there and what the likes, dislikes, favourites are. I consider naked to be the most interesting, closely followed by secrets and lies.

[oscar jubis]

Mike Leigh manages to consistently make high quality cinema while allowing his actors a great deal of input into the "script". I prefer HIGH HOPES and LIFE IS SWEET but not because these are better than your favourites. Most likely because I find it easier to identify with their situations and their characters. NAKED introduced me to David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge and I am grateful. Mike Leigh was already very good in the 70s when he could only get financing for TV movies. I recommend NUTS IN MAY and ABIGAIL'S PARTY from that period.

[del_bake]

I agree that Leigh has a unique method of "untying" the usual script/actor methodology, and thats why I get alot out of Naked due to the almost complete improvisation Thewlis was given to form his character's dialogue. Admittedly not a happy piece, it still loads up a larger cinematic impact that any of his others. The landlord is a sizzling inditement on capitilast Britain. Thought stephen rea was great in life is sweet. Thewlis's small part is great and Jim Broadbent is always consistent in whatever he does. Not a huge fan of his early tele-productions although "Meantime" was interesting, gary oldman & tim roth are always realistic. "All or Nothing" was brilliant , if you haven't seen, I highly recommend it. Timothy Spall, also in "Secrets & Lies" is fantastic.

[oscar jubis]

There are only 2 English-language films released last year I like more than Leigh's All or Nothing: Bloody Sunday and The Pianist. Check out my post on page 4 of the Best Films of 2002 thread.
I agree with you comments about Naked. I simply find the pseudo- hippies of High Hopes and the family unit in Life is Sweet more interesting than Thewlis' rapist.
BTW, did you know about Katrin Cartlidge(Naked, Claire Dolan,etc.)'s sudden death last year? I hope to find time to open a thread to discuss her career here.

[del_bake]

That was tragic and bizarre. Septicaemia or something wasn't it. I loved the pianist. Probably the film of the year in my opinion. Polanski needs to tackle more of the same writers relating to his past as it seems to bring out his most reflective creativity. I did enjoy high hopes. Had some great dialogue and characterization on urban class structures and how they accomodate each other. I guess i'm just a fan of the darker side of humanity and how well it can be portrayed in film without stomping all over the moral subconcious, although Naked really pushes that envelope and that probably has something to do with it as well. Found Bloody Sunday frustrating at times because of the doco style cinemaphotography. Performances were great but the ending also became a tad fiddly with political ping pong. I enjoyed Sunday more (tele movie). It seemed to grasp the material with an objectivity BS lacked.

[Skypilot]

I really have trouble deciding which is the best Mike Leigh movie. Of the ones I've seen I'd say that "Grown-ups", "High Hopes", "Life is Sweet", and "Secrets and Lies" are the best. One thing that really blew me away was when I realized that Leslie Manville was in almost all of these movies and I didn't even recognize her from one movie to the next. She was the wife in "Grown-Ups" the yuppie in "High Hopes" and the harried adoption agency employee in "Secrets and Lies". She also plays the wife in "All or Nothing". It's amazing the way she transforms herself in each of her roles.

[Johann]

Love the name, Skypilot. I'm big fan of The Animals. (I love "We gotta get out of this place")

Best Mike Leigh? NAKED comes to mind.

[Skypilot]

I didn't like Naked so much. It really didn't even feel like a Mike Leigh movie to me although I must say that i appreciated the fact that he did something different. There were some things about it that I did like. I like the way Leigh almost always inserts a character that has a particularly irritating and distinctive habit. The yuppie guy in Naked whose laugh sounded as though he were suppressing the need to vomit was especially memorable.

What was the message or theme that you took away from this movie. Although I wasn't crazy about Naked it seemed to have something to say about the way some women leave themselves open and vulnerable to attack, both physical and emotional. Did you get that at all?

[Johann]

That's what this film was about. I think it was important to tell a story about visible vulnerability and what happens when a weak minded coward decides to act on it.

Great movie.

[oscar jubis]

Maybe the "yuppie guy" was amusing but he is a caricature not a character, which is not typical of Leigh. I would agree with the character played by Katrin Cartlidge(RIP) standing for the type of female willing to be victimized by misogynists but my reading of Leigh's primary aim is more sociological. His most "sprawling" movie-think about Thewlis wandering and meeting all sorts of people- seems to me primarily a commentary on post-Thatcher England. The film made my '93 English-language Top 10 but not as high up as LIFE IS SWEET and HIGH HOPES. The film loses focus at times but Thewlis is brilliant throughout.