- Meantime (film)
-
Meantime 
Directed by Mike Leigh Produced by Graham Benson Written by Mike Leigh Starring Tim Roth,
Phil Daniels,
Gary OldmanCinematography Roger Pratt Editing by Lesley Walker Release date(s) 1983 Running time 112 min. Country United Kingdom Language English Meantime is a 1983 film directed by Mike Leigh, produced by Central Television for Channel 4. It was shown at the London Film Festival in 1983 and on Channel 4 a few weeks later, on 1 December. According to the critic Michael Coveney: "The sapping, debilitating and demeaning state of unemployment, the futile sense of waste, has not been more poignantly, or poetically, expressed in any other film of the period."[1]
The film details the travails of a working-class family in London's East End, struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the mother Mavis (Pam Ferris) is working; father Frank (Jeff Robert) and the couple's two sons Colin (Tim Roth), a timid, chronically shy individual and Mark (Phil Daniels), an outspoken, headstrong young man, are on the dole. This situation is contrasted by the presence of Mavis's sister Barbara (Marion Bailey), and her husband John (Alfred Molina), whose financial and social loftiness, in suburban Chigwell, appears to be a comfortable facade over the unspoken soreness of a lacklustre marriage.
Gary Oldman receives top billing as the quirky skinhead Coxy; in 2011, Total Film named the performance as one of the ten best of his career, writing, "Oldman's first big role... He plays oddball skinhead Coxy with the very energetic charisma that he’ll become famous for."[2]
Contents
Cast
- Marion Bailey ... Barbara
- Phil Daniels ... Mark
- Tim Roth ... Colin
- Pam Ferris ... Mavis
- Jeff Robert ... Frank
- Alfred Molina ... John
- Gary Oldman ... Coxy
- Tilly Vosburgh ... Hayley
- Paul Daly ... Rusty
- Leila Bertrand ... Hayley's Friend
- Hepburn Graham ... Boyfriend
- Peter Wight ... Estate Manager
- Eileen Davies ... Unemployment Benefit Clerk
- Herbert Norville ... Man in Pub
- Brian Hoskin ... Barman
Filming locations
Notes
One day at the rehearsal space, a factory in Homerton, Roth and Oldman were throwing a milk bottle around. Suddenly Roth threw it up and it hit a fluorescent lighting strip. Leigh saw, " Gary's shaven head erupt into a thousand red blotches; in the film you can see the stitch marks." He rushed Oldman to hospital. "As I drove him there, all done up in his skinhead stuff, covered in blood, Gary said to me, "For fuck's sake, tell 'em I'm an actor!" He could easily have lost his eyesight in the accident, and I do not know to this day what I would have done if that had happened." [3]
References
- ^ Michael Coveney, The World according to Mike Leigh, p.174
- ^ Winning, Josh. Best Movies: The film chameleon’s greatest moments. Total Film. 11 April, 2011. Retrieved 4 October, 2011.
- ^ Coveney, p.176
External links
- Meantime at the Internet Movie Database
Mike Leigh Television
workBleak Moments (1971) · Hard Labour (1973) · The Permissive Society (1975) · Knock for Knock (1976) · Nuts in May (1976) · Abigail's Party (1977) · Kiss of Death (1977) · Who's Who (1978) · Grown-Ups (1980) · Home Sweet Home (1982) · Meantime (1983) · Four Days in July (1985)Theatrical
filmsHigh Hopes (1988) · Life Is Sweet (1990) · Naked (1993) · Secrets & Lies (1996) · Career Girls (1997) · Topsy-Turvy (1999) · All or Nothing (2002) · Vera Drake (2004) · Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) · Another Year (2010)Plays Ecstasy (1979) · Too Much of a Good Thing (1979, broadcast 1992)Categories:- British films
- English-language films
- 1976 plays
- Plays by Mike Leigh
- 1984 films
- Films directed by Mike Leigh
- Social realism in film
- British television films
- 1980s British film stubs
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