Meantime (TV Movie 1983)

Meantime: Directed by Mike Leigh. With Marion Bailey, Phil Daniels, Tim Roth, Pam Ferris. When one brother gets a job from their wealthy aunt, the other becomes increasingly jealous.

“u0026#39;Meantimeu0026#39; is a modernist masterpiece, closer to Antonioni than Loach, all the more remarkable for having been made on TV, and transcending the incidentals of portentousness, contrivance and misogyny. Leigh doesnu0026#39;t simply record the monumental, faceless, soulless tenements that dwarf his characters, as a social-realist would: he allows them to shape his narrative, a rigid, static series of concrete tableaux. Leigh doesnu0026#39;t reduce his characters to caricature (a complaint often levelled against him) – Thatcherism does, by removing all those things – hope, work, dreams etc. – that mark humanity and individuality. As bitterly angry and funny as u0026#39;Nakedu0026#39;.”