All or Nothing

This film is worth a hundred others because it is not an exercise in making a product and marketing it successfully- instead it is a statement by a man who is a true director, someone who feels passionately about the world we live in, and uses this fantastic medium to its highest potential.

The film is ultimately about a man (Phil, Timothy Spall) who has philosophized about life to the point where nothing matters to him anymore. The only thing that brings him back around the world of the living is (the only thing any of us really need for happiness)... Love.

For me, that is one of the most pertinent and beautiful things that someone with a voice in society can say.

P.S. It is highly likely that if anyone found this film 'too depressing' than they are not really primed to expect anything other than the beauty and predictability of

hollywood film. And in response to the chap who refutes the existence of such misery in the real world: you are obviously a lucky, privileged chap.

The previous reviewers describe the story's chemistry adequately. But why all or nothing?

Contrary to the other comments I did not find the protrayal dreary or depressing. To do so seems to me to show a lack of awareness of the people who live and work near us or for us; who breathe the same air we do.

These people don't live in a slum or a housing development. They live in their homes. They do not portray, as in too many other movies, special effects empty violence or emotionless skin sex scenes. They beg us to consider and respect the lives they really live and their search for the fuel to continue tomorrow. They don't need everything; they don't need it all. They simple need enough to enable their emotional existence, that's all; otherwise they have nothing.

"All or Nothing" finally arrived in Honolulu where there are people with dialects different from London and yet have the very same vacancies in their lives.

I vote to clone Director Mike Leigh!!

Mike Leigh makes this movie as a sociological study because he wants us to be confronted with the state of mind of the working class of now. There is more poverty in the slums nowadays than say twenty years ago! Family-life is disrupted and children have many problems: overweight, sexual harassment, abortion (?). How will the rent be paid? And the loan of the taxi? What is going on in the mind of our son who does only look television and eat until he becomes fat? Why is my woman unhappy, do we still talk to each other? We are proud of our daughter who is a nurse for elderly people, but what is happening with our son? Even the dialogues in the taxi are splendid!

I have just returned from a special advance showing of "All Or Nothing" at my local UGC and I must say, this film exceeded my expectations enormously.

The film is about the lives of one family in a council estate and how each member interacts with the community. The Father, Phil Bassett (Timothy Spall) works as a Taxi driver while his wife Penny (Lesley Manville) is a checkout operator at a local supermarket. They are unmarried but have two children Rachel and Rory, the former being an angst-ridden, overweight layabout who is key to the film.

Acting is superb. It is that simple. All but one performance is utterly convincing, especially Timothy Spall with his constant bemused grimace which sets the mood of both his character and the film. The one exception is Donna played by Helen Coker. Her role is played up too much and seems rather forced. Now if by any chance you're reading Helen, please don't be disheartened; I merely saw you as the "least best" of an excellent bunch and I have to criticise something!

The script is authentic, witty and full of emotion while not being repetitive (barring the word "alright"!).

"All Or Nothing" is one of the greatest portrayals of what it is REALLY like to be part of a down-on-your-luck working class family. I even believe the film ended too soon; there were a few ideas that could have been developed further. I mention this not as a criticism but as a tribute to Mike Leigh who actually made we wish this 2hr 28 minute film would go on!

Fantastic! Eight out of ten!!!

"All or Nothing" certainly isn't a movie for the masses and I'm sure that many people will never see it or even think about seeing it and that is a shame. It's true that it is a rather depressing movie, at first sight, when you don't look closer and don't get involved in the story. When you take the time to dig deeper, you'll not only see the misery, but also a beautiful thing called love.

In this movie we mostly follow Phil, a gentle guy who works as a taxi-driver and who lives together with his wife and two children in some social housing complex in London. His daughter works in a retirement home, his son hasn't got a job and his wife works on the checkout at a supermarket. They have the biggest problems to make both ends meet every month, but that's not Phil's biggest concern. He doesn't care much for life anymore, because his wife no longer loves him. But than something terrible happens to the family, bringing them all together again, as close or perhaps even closer as they have ever been...

This movie is very realistic, hard and dark, but in the same time it is also very heart-warming. This certainly isn't a sugar sweet love story like we get too often from the big Hollywood studio's. This is what real life is like for many people. It has a social engagement (showing that even in biggest misery, people still care for each other and help each other), that probably will never be found in a Hollywood production.

I guess it will be understand and loved more by people who like realistic movies in general and socially engaged movies in particular. I might even say that it will be loved more by the people who are used to watch other European movies (Scandinavian, Spanish, French,... movies often have a deeper meaning included). Personally I liked what I saw and that's why I give this movie a 7.5/10.