Mike Leigh is much more effective in "Bleak Moments" than his later, more popular efforts like "Secrets and Lies". The latter lacks much of the intensity and focus of this film.
The characters in Mike Leigh's films live in different, often isolated worlds. Some haltingly, painfully attempt to communicate and relate to one another. Others just blindly or blithely drift by. There is some caring, often much misunderstanding. In Leigh's later films the characters come to some reconciliation, but there is no such escape for them here. The movie is, true to its name, bleak.
Tom Noonan's "What Happened Was", which is highly recommended to anyone who likes this film, is really a working out of one critical "coffee and sherry" scene in Bleak Moments.
One of the best films I've seen in recent years. 10/10
The characters in Mike Leigh's films live in different, often isolated worlds. Some haltingly, painfully attempt to communicate and relate to one another. Others just blindly or blithely drift by. There is some caring, often much misunderstanding. In Leigh's later films the characters come to some reconciliation, but there is no such escape for them here. The movie is, true to its name, bleak.
Tom Noonan's "What Happened Was", which is highly recommended to anyone who likes this film, is really a working out of one critical "coffee and sherry" scene in Bleak Moments.
One of the best films I've seen in recent years. 10/10