As much as Mike Leigh has wonderfully captured the bleakness of post cold war middle class England, he has also made not much of a story for us to ponder.
Much of this film is left unsaid, and as wonderful as the cast is and the great lead performance, much of the power and passion that could be aroused in this film is left untouched. The sideline of the story of Ethel does provide some other avenue for us to look at it, but it also seems a distraction from keeping the viewer away from the real heart of the matter in the film. That is probably the thing that I left the theatre most from this film, in that it was rather unremarkable and ended just as underwhelmingly.
Rating 6 out of 10
Much of this film is left unsaid, and as wonderful as the cast is and the great lead performance, much of the power and passion that could be aroused in this film is left untouched. The sideline of the story of Ethel does provide some other avenue for us to look at it, but it also seems a distraction from keeping the viewer away from the real heart of the matter in the film. That is probably the thing that I left the theatre most from this film, in that it was rather unremarkable and ended just as underwhelmingly.
Rating 6 out of 10