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Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh is one of England's finest film makers.
He is noted for his use of improvisational performances and plots which stem from prolonged workshops with actors developing their characters, not an initial script.
Leigh made his feature film debut with the sombre " Bleak Moments". This film often gets dismissed as being humourless. Anyone who is in tune with Leigh's work will find much humour in this film, although it is almost Bergmanesque in it's melancholy tones and moments of stillness.
Discounting " Meantime" which was a film financed by Channel 4 television before they had branched out into cinema production, Mike Leigh's next feature film was " High Hopes", which dealt with the effect of Thatcher's rule on Britain's working classes and is perhaps his most overtly political film. His next film, " Life Is Sweet" was much lighter and dealt with more personal themes. For many, Leigh's finest achievement to date was his 1993 film " Naked", a film which divided audiences and angered as many critics as it delighted.
Mike Leigh's films are unique because they are not plot driven. They portray the subtleties of human behaviour in a way which very few other films do. Describing a Mike Leigh film can be a difficult task, since conventional plot devices are largely absent. Will Self described Leigh's work as spiritual art while conducting an interview with him.
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Filmography
Mike Leigh - news / articles
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Leigh likes a laugh -
15 April 2008
Director Mike Leigh likes a giggle as much as the next man - and to prove it his cheery disposition, he has hit out at the "rubbish" claims that he makes downbeat films. -Speaking at the UK premiere of his latest offering, the upbeat Happy-Go-Lucky, Oscar-
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Everyone in the dark over Mike Leigh film -
14 February 2006
British director Mike Leigh is about to move on to his next project, but as with all his work everything is shrouded in secrecy. - -Casting for the project, which will be Leigh's follow up to Vera Drake, is due to start in April but not even the film's producer know
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Mike Leigh abortion film scoops Venice film awards -
12 September 2004
Mike Leigh's film, "Vera Drake", has been named best picture at the Venice Film Festival.-Imelda Staunton, star of the drama about a working class woman who performs back street abortions in 1950s Britain, also scooped up the award for best actress, at the
Mike Leigh - what members say
Mike Leigh - filmography
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Happy-Go-Lucky
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Nonso Anozie
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate: 
Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a 30-year-old Londoner with a bright outlook on life. She loves her job, she loves her friends, she loves her freedom. Mike Leigh's film follows her over a few weeks one spring as she learns to drive and embarks on a new romance.
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60%
from 17,095 members
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Vera Drake
on DVD
(2004)
Starring: Imelda Staunton, Estelle Harris, Phil Davis
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate: 
Mike Leigh produces another devastating masterpiece with the heartbreaking VERA DRAKE. Imelda Staunton is the title character, beloved wife of Stan (Phil Davis) and mother of Sid (Daniel Mays) and Ethel (Alex Kelly). Vera spends her days cleaning houses for money and looking in on elderly and sick ..read more »
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66%
from 48,522 members
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All Or Nothing
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate: 
Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket. Their daughter Rachel cleans in a home for elderly people, and their son Rory is unemployed and aggressive. The joy has gone out of Phil and Penny's life, ..read more »
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63%
from 4,045 members
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Topsy-Turvy
on DVD
(1999)
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Director Mike Leigh's high-minded telling of the story of legendary musical team Gilbert & Sullivan is one of the director's most thorough, highly ambitious efforts. Concentrating mainly on the tumultuous period just before the conception and production of the pair's THE MIKADO (first staged in ..read more »
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63%
from 1,823 member
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Career Girls
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman, Kate Byers
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Director Mike Leigh follows up his Oscar-nominated SECRETS AND LIES with CAREER GIRLS, a bittersweet drama that deals with the passage of time between two friends. Annie (Lynda Steadman) and Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) were college roommates in London. Six years later, Annie is taking the train back ..read more »
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63%
from 1,951 member
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Secrets And Lies
(1996)
Starring: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
A successful career woman who has just buried her adoptive parents decides to search out her real mother.
Nominated for 5 Oscars, winner of 3 BAFTA Awards and the winner of 'Best Film' at The Cannes Film Festival, Mike Leigh's hilarious, bittersweet comedy is an unmissable and moving slice of real ..read more »
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71%
from 10,291 members
Not currently released
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Naked
on DVD
(1993)
Starring: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
David Thewlis is Johnny the ultimate anti-hero of the nineties - cold, cynical and immoral, yet at times both caring and passionate. His complex existence is sketched with the hand of a master, as violence and gentleness, comedy and tragedy go hand in hand through a landscape inhabited by the sort ..read more »
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65%
from 4,215 members
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Life Is Sweet
on DVD
(1990)
Starring: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Director Mike Leigh escapes the confines of direct-to-television films with this incredibly bittersweet slice-of-life comedy about a blue-collar family living in modern-day England. Wendy (Alison Steadman) and Andy (Jim Broadbent) are a good-natured couple with two daughters, Nicola (Jane Horrocks) ..read more »
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66%
from 6,681 members
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High Hopes
on DVD
(1988)
Starring: Phil Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Dore
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Slice-of-life look at a sweet working-class couple in London, Shirley and Cyril, his mother, who's aging quickly and becoming forgetful, mum's ghastly upper-middle-class neighbors, and Cyril's pretentious sister and philandering husband.
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71%
from 610 members
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Meantime
on DVD
(1983)
Starring: Marion Bailey, Phil Daniels, Tim Roth
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Director Mike Leigh presents another slice-of-life drama--this time focusing on a family of acerbic, terminally unemployed working-class Britons languishing in their East End council house. Frank (Jeff Robert) and Mavis (Pam Ferris) are the endlessly bickering parents of Mark (Phil Daniels) and ..read more »
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61%
from 1,789 member
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Grown - Ups
(1980)
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Phil Davis, Lindsay Duncan
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate: 
Interesting comedy-drama in which Dick and Mandy, a young working class couple, move into a council house in Canterbury, and are besieged by some familiar faces.
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61%
from 32 members
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Mike Leigh At The BBC
(6 discs)
on DVD
Starring: Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Brid Brennan
Director: Mike Leigh
Certificate:
Hard Labour: Mike Leigh's first TV drama for the BBC in 1973. Shot entirely on location in Leigh's native Salford, Hard Labour depicts the grinding daily routine of stoical domestic cleaner Mrs Thornley and her cantankerous family.
The Permissive Society: The title is ironic - a popular ..read more »
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72%
from 695 members
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Mike Leigh facts
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5 Stars 7 April 2004
...What an excellent film. This is the second Mike Leigh film that I've watched and am so impressed with the way he pulls off making down-to-earth real-life dramas that pack...
real life can be boring 16 September 2004
Good honest British Drama 9 March 2004
