Okay, so am I the only Mike Leigh fan around here?

I had a great time this past weekend watching the dvds in the recently released MIKE LEIGH COLLECTION box set. It contains Abigail's Party (I saw the play during a revival run this past summer in London), an absurdist drama that is essential for all disco fans, GROWN UPS, with Brenda Blethyn giving one of her best and funniest performances ever (as a character who kind of prefigures her character in Leigh's SECRETS AND LIES), and Hard Labor, which features a young Ben Kingsley.

The dvds themselves are nothing to scream about. The picture quality is only as good as the source material. There are no special features. No surround sound mix. Still, it was a good weekend.

These films (mostly produced for the BBC I think) were all new to me, but I enjoyed them as much as any of Mike Leigh's work. Anyone else get this set? Any other opinions on these or other Mike Leigh films?

 

I saw "All or Nothing" at the Chicago Film Festival.
Timothy Spall is one great actor. Well worth seeing.

 

In answer to the thread's question- no, you are not! I have seen and enjoyed the following:

All or Nothing
Topsy-Turvy
Career Girls
Secrets & Lies
Naked
Life Is Sweet
High Hopes

Leigh is a brilliant director and writer. He has an ability to find and examine the humanity in even the most sordid characters. These are not always easy films to watch, but even when dealing with the most depressing subjects and situations he is able to touch upon the truth and joy of life. I'll look for that set.

 

I recently watched Life is Sweet for the second time. The scene where a drunken Timothy Spall passes out in his restaurant is one of the funniest things on film. It's a really great film, with some very believeable characters.

Naked and Secrets and lies are also great films and worthy of repeated viewings. That's the extent of my experience with Leigh's films, and it's very positive.

 

Secrets and Lies has to be one of my all time favorites, though all of the films mentioned so far in this thread are great (except for High Hopes, which I haven't seen, so cannot comment on). NAKED was my introduction to Leigh's films, about 10 years ago.

Anyone seen the dvd of MEANTIME? Good film, but hands down one of the worst jobs of dvd production I've ever seen.

 

"Naked" is one of my all-time favorites. It blew my mind the first time I saw it--absolutely mesmerizing.

 

My friend Herb calls him 'our greatest living director'. I find it curious that in that British journal of film criticism (sorry, forgot the name, DBryant gives us the link yearly) Leigh is hardly a footnote. Criterion did a laserdisc version of Naked that had some of his early work as extras, but I don't know if it was ever available on DVD. Wasn't Topsy Turvy a brilliant departure from his usual work? New Yorker called it, and I agree, the greatest film ever made about the theatre. For getting emotions and relationships on the screen I don't think there's anyone better. His more commercial films tend toward sentimentality and melodrama but as a result have found a larger audience. Naked can take its place on my ten best list anytime. All or Nothing was a grand return to form.

 

I've got the Criterion LD of NAKED, but it has never appeared on dvd. I would love to see Criterion get hold of SECRETS & LIES, TOPSY TURVY, and CAREER GIRLS.

 

I love Mike Leigh. I remember when I was in high school, I tried to convince my local library to stock up on Abigail's Party, Life is Sweet, and High Hopes. The librarian just grunted and said something about not stocking directors nobody knew of or would ever know of.

My local library now has several Leigh films!

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

I've enjoyed the four or five Leigh films I've seen so far. Thanks for the other recommendations...

When I saw "Secrets And Lies" for the first time I thought about it for several days afterwards. And it's a film that I've watched four or five times since and it has moved me every time.

 

Again, for all you SECRETS & LIES fans, I highly recommend GROWN UPS. Many aspects of it are like SECRETS & LIES 15 years earlier.