A keen, if somewhat caustic, observer of British manners and mores, Mike Leigh has been hailed as a director who celebrates the lives of 'ordinary' people in his work, both in film and in theatre. Comparing and contrasting all his films from Bleak Moments and High Hopes through Naked, Career Girls and Topsy-Turvy to All or Nothing, Garry Watson considers this claim, examining the influence and effect of each film, as well as the approach to 'the real'. Through careful textual detail and wider social and literary comparison with the works of Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence amongst others, The Cinema of Mike Leigh: A Sense of the Real argues ultimately for the artistic and cultural significance of Leigh's work as one of Britain's most respected filmmakers and screenwriters.

Garry Watson is Professor of English at the University of Alberta and teaches English, Amercian literature and cinema. He is the co-editor of Approaches to Teaching the Works of D. H. Lawrence (2001).

2004
224 pages
978-1-904764-10-6    £16.99 (pbk)
978-1-903364-90-1   £45.00 (hbk)

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chapter sample
Introduction


reviews
'The time is ripe for a serious critical appraisal of the work of Mike Leigh, one of the most innovative and provocative filmmakers in Britain today. Garry Watson's book fills this gap admirably. He has a rare gift for putting the films vividly before us and then making us reconsider them in a new light.'
Brian McFarlane, Monash University

'Watson's study of the films of Mike Leigh is the latest in a series of recent works on the British director … Whereas others examine films through the acclaimed Naked (1993), Watson includes more recent films – Secrets and Lies, Career Girls, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing. He begins with the reception of Leigh's work, defending him against critics who dismiss him or misread his political and social vision. Does Leigh caricature or celebrate the British working class? Both. What is important is that he sees that the stories of the working class are important to tell. Watson tackles critics' complaints head-on: Gloria's annoying childishness in Grown-Ups and Valerie's hysteria in High Hopes mark them both as "impossible" characters whose excesses reveal "the truth about ourselves". Profanity in All or Nothing becomes a coded way of communicating frustration and anger within the family. Watson is sensitive to the pain and suffering that define the worlds of Leigh's characters, and he reads Leigh's happy endings (pregnancies, familial reconciliations) as emblematic of the potential for transformation. Essential.'
J. Belton, Choice

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