Bleak Moments (Leigh, 1971): Prince Charles Cinema, 5.30pm
'I've tried to vary my films considerably, but I would have to admit that Bleak Moments remains, in some ways, the mother of all Mike Leigh films. And I'm very proud of it.'Mike Leigh
This presentation is part of Bleak Week at the Prince Charles Cinema. Details here. The film will be followed by a Q&A with director Mike Leigh.
Chicago Reader review:
Mike Leigh's auspicious first feature focuses on the painful gaps in
communication between a lonely accountant's clerk (Anne Raitt) and an
uptight schoolteacher she halfheartedly tries to seduce. Kitchen-sink
realism with a vengeance, punctuated by painful and awkward silences,
this was made before Leigh formed a fully coherent social and political
view of his material, but his feeling for the characters never falters.
One can find a glancing relationship with John Cassavetes's first feature, Shadows,
but the style and milieu is English to the core. This might seem
overlong, and the drabness and emotional constipation may drive you
slightly batty, but the film leaves a powerful aftertaste.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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