Meantime

Meantime (1983)

Runtime: 107 minutes

Directed by: Mike Leigh

Starring: Marion Bailey, Tim Roth, Phil Daniels, Pam Ferris, Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina

From: Channel 4

Not only me saying “RIP” to the late cinematographer Roger Pratt, but my first-ever Mike Leigh. Some may be AGHAST I’ve never given the famed British director a chance, but as his new film is coming to the cinemas of the United States this upcoming weekend… as for Pratt, I have viewed and reviewed the important visual contributions he made for the likes of Tim Burton’s Batman, 12 Monkeys & Brazil. In this TV movie made for Channel 4 in the UK, he did a cracking job.

This wasn’t the only time Leigh and Pratt worked together; this was selected as it featured several familiar names. Now, Meantime was well-made and interesting. However, it’s full of unlikable characters who live in what was a bad part of London, at least at the time (the East End). I don’t want to get political here, yet will have to as a frame of reference. Meantime’s main theme is that recession during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister was rather miserable, with many struggling to find work. This is kitchen sink realism, to use a term applied to some British cinema.

The Pollock family are pretty miserable, where only the mother working, and both the father and two sons crummy sots who are happy to be listless & collecting unemployment. One son was… Tim Roth, sporting an amazing look in glasses. He’s apparently mentally handicapped, although the film uses a word that is now not in vogue. Then there’s the skinhead, who I call that not because of his bald head and Doc Martens, but because he says “Oi!” often--and oh yeah, is racist. He was portrayed by… Gary Oldman!

Alfred Molina also has a supporting role; it was nice to see those talents, all among their first roles on screen and they all did a bloody good job. It’s the sort of motion picture I won’t watch again due to all the misery and frustrating characters who choose to live a bleak, tedious existence, but it was nice to finally tackle something from Mike Leigh. More from the director will eventually be witnessed by me.