Popular British filmmaker Mike Leigh never turned off his socio-psychological
sensors, which are the main tool of his directing style. In fact, over time his
humanistic and social sensibility for “ordinary” people has intensified.
This second part of the program of films by Mike Leigh partly consists of
his early and less known films, (Hard Labor and Who\'s who), as well as the two
key pieces of his opus, (Secrets & Lies and All or Nothing). It will also
undoubtedly confirm the belief that Leigh is an author of firm standpoints and a
special directing talent. Moreover, it will show that the popular British
filmmaker never turned off his socio-psychological sensors, which are the main
tool of his directing style. In fact, over time his humanistic and social
sensibility for “ordinary” people has intensified, his talent for improvisation
has been perfected, and he seems to have built in himself a precise mechanism
for timing the (melo)dramas of his characters. Over the last three decades, this
has resulted in one of the richest and most impressive galleries of film
characters.

A special place in that immense gallery belongs to the characters played by the
actor Timothy Spall. That plain fatty with an inert body and a sad face has been
Leigh’s sidekick from the early eighties and the film Home Sweet Home, all the
way to his latest acclaimed melodramas. He is usually the central figure in the
portrayal of dysfunctional middle or low class families and the one upon whom
individual, family and social frustrations break. He is the husband whose family
expects from him more than he can offer, a father who is burdened with more
everyday problems than he can handle; in short, an imperfect and vulnerable man
in an imperfect world surrounded by equally sad children and wives. This clash
between expectation and impossibility in the specific psychosocial environment
of the, at first sight, insurmountable but still bearable human “flaws”, creates
in Leigh’s films complex relationships, surprising melodramatic plots and
effects, emotional amalgams that leave a bitter-sweet taste. This clash has
produced the big-small world of Leigh’s touch and sight that only a few
directors can create. The silent and gloomy character of Timothy Spall holding a
beer glass (Secrets & Lies) or a beer can (All or Nothing) in a lonely and
drawn-out melancholy scene, in which little is said and nothing much happens,
speaks for itself. The dramatic and absurd “all”, before and after that scene,
was thoroughly observed, felt, experienced, and finally provoked in front of the
cameras by a director with an x-ray insight, critical view and a warm touch.
(Diana Nenadić)