Mike Leigh Collection – Volume Three
Picture: C
Sound: C/C+ on July
Extras: D Films: B- each
Kiss Of Death (1977)
Home Sweet Home (1982)
Four Days In July (1985)
Upon the theatrical release of his latest feature film,
the controversial abortion drama Vera Drake (2004), Water Bearer has
issued the third of their Mike Leigh Collection DVD sets and all in this
case are British telefilms. The first
two of which come from the tele-series Play For Today, while the latter
is a stand-alone TV movie. All are
grittier than usual for TV productions.
Kiss Of Death has absolutely nothing to do
with the Film Noir classic or its mixed remake, but is instead the tale of
Trevor (David Threlfall), who works as an assistant to an undertaker and is
very withdrawn. Fortunately, his buddy
Ronnie (John Wheatley) gets him out of the house to try and have a life, even
if it means he is a third-wheel with Ronnie and his girlfriend Sandra (Angela
Curran). One night, Trevor meets Linda
(Kay Adshead) and there is some mutual interest, but getting Trevor to go to
the local disco may be tougher than resurrection itself.
I liked this film and think it is one of Leigh’s best
telefilms. Like Abigail’s Party
(also 1977, reviewed elsewhere on this site in the first set), Disco music
becomes much more an irony than any kind of escape. More explicitly so than that film, the working class in this film
are no so easily seduced or suckered by the promise of the genre; of instant
happiness and freedom by just “getting down” and having sex freely. These people do not have to have a fear of
AIDS as a deterrent, but just the systematic pain of their caste system
existence and what it has done to their soul.
They are not sold so easily. The
case compares the film to Delbert Mann’s classic Marty (1955), which has
a degree of validity, but Leigh’s film is too British for a simple analogy and
offers some of the best improvisation in his filmography.
Home Sweet Home is about three postal workers
(Gordon, Harold, and Stan) who are friends, but lives will cross each other in
ways that will not benefit anyone.
Harold (Tim Barker) is stuck with his job and his wife June (Su Elliott)
is suffering in a breakdown in intimacy between them, resulting in Stan (Eric
Richard) having an affair with her.
Gordon (Timothy Spall) is not getting on well with his wife Hazel (Kay
Stonham), who becomes body obsessed, leaving another door open for Stan. The only woman who is in Stan’s life is good
reason is his daughter Tina (Lorraine Brunning), who is as neglected as anyone
and the biggest warning sign to all that Stan is irresponsible.
Though not as effective as Kiss Of Death, the cast
and improvisation in Home works well enough as yet another study of
dysfunctional working class goings-on, though it is sometimes muddled and seems
to miss a few opportunities. The
telefilm is simply not as tight, though the performances negate that problem to
an extent. The meaning of the title is
still a bit different in Britain than in the U.S., so that should be considered.
Four Days In July is Leigh’s attempt to take on
the Northern Ireland conflict between Catholics and Protestants. He abandons the usual focus on couples,
though we meet such couples on both sides.
Instead, this film is about the politics of “the other” and he goes into
all kinds of directions in covering this.
Thanks in part to his improvisational style, things are allowed to just
happen and he again finds himself in Robert Altman-type territory. Though men are not trivialized, women find a
prominent place again in the Leigh set-up and the final pro-women,
pro-feminist, anti-terrorist moments of this work echo Altman’s Ready To
Wear (Pręt A Porter) from ten years later in the most interesting
ways. Having the military guards invade
the distinctive space of the Leigh world has its own unique weight and the way
Leigh contrasts them to the women here is sometimes fascinating. Stephen Rea is the most known name here,
though this whole cast is on the money throughout. The cinematic Leigh is most apparent here.
The 1.33
X 1 full frame images on all three films show their age, with all having more
print damage than expected, but the poor color and muddy definition is not all
the transfer, as the filmed productions are intended to have a realistic grit
to them. They all look to be shot in
16mm film. The cinematographers
for the first film are John Kenway & Michael Williams, while Remi
Adefarasan lensed the latter two. July
has some better color consistency and less muddiness. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on each film is smaller than expected,
though July is a bit clearer by default from being a newer
production. You get a minimal music
score by Carl Davis is on the first two films, while Rachel Portman scores the
latter. There are no extras, but this
is the best of the three Leigh sets yet.
More films remain unreleased and we can only hope Water Bearer will be
able to issue them. See my reviews for
the previous sets at the following links:
Set One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=800&filter=4
Set Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=1233&filter=4
- Nicholas Sheffo
