★ 7 / 10
This is an early effort by Mike Leigh
Peter McGinn
This is an early effort by Mike Leigh, a writer/director I really like. It seems to have been part of a BBC TV film series. I can’t say enough about the acting…
This is an early effort by Mike Leigh, a writer/director I really like. It seems to have been part of a BBC TV film series.
I can’t say enough about the acting up and down the cast list. Brenda Blethyn and Lesley Manviile did the same superlative job I would come to expect from them in later roles. And I guess Phil Davis must have done a great job also, for he made me dislike his character intensely, and later I realized I have enjoyed a lot of his later work.
Like with most of Mike Leigh’s family dramas, the story builds up to an emotional crisis point, and then settles back into a slightly improved post-crisis place. I didn’t enjoy this as much as his other films. There seemed to be less depth to it. There is a lot of small talk hare about life for the less than affluent. The only social issue that showed promise was the mention of apparent abuse in parental home of the two sisters, which Mandy escaped by getting married (though to sn unlivable guy) and who left her sister Gloria to deal with their father alone.
Still, definitely worth watching, and maybe a good starting point for those who don’t know Mike Leigh’s work.
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★ 9 / 10
One of Leigh's best television films for the BBC
dr_clarke_2
1980's 'Grown-Ups' is an episode of BBC2's Playhouse written (or, as he prefers, devised) and directed by Mike Leigh. Apparently dissatisfied with 'Who's Who'…
1980's 'Grown-Ups' is an episode of BBC2's Playhouse written (or, as he prefers, devised) and directed by Mike Leigh. Apparently dissatisfied with 'Who's Who' (also made for the BBC) from the previous year, Leigh was determined to make a more controlled television film, and the resulting domestic drama - which he has described as "hell in the suburbs" - is one of his more gritty, realistic pieces.
'Grown-Ups' sees Leigh focus his lens on a pair of marriages, neither of which seems especially happy. Young newlyweds Dick and Mandy have just moved into a council house and contemplate starting a family without much enthusiasm. Meanwhile, their neighbours Ralph and Christine (the former of whom was a teacher at Dick and Mandy's school) bicker incessantly, the former seeking escape through books, and seem to have almost nothing in common. Thrown into this mix is Mandy's older sister Gloria, who constantly drops by uninvited, constantly fusses and is blissfully unaware when Dick and Mandy want to simply be left alone.
As in much of Leigh's character-based work, not a vast amount actually happens in 'Grown-Ups', with the story instead concerned with the interplay of the players and the minutiae of their lives. On this occasion, the characters aren't particularly likeable, especially Phil Davis' sneering, verbally aggressive Dick, and the pompous Ralph, who seems more interested in reading about the Loch Ness Monster than in his wife's hopes and desires. The woman fare better, with Mandy and Christine united (we eventually learn) in their desire to have children, although Gloria is spectacularly irritating, especially during the chaotic denouement, as her ludicrous behaviour brings the couples together in adversity, a sequence that shows Leigh's characteristic flair for deadpan, black humour. The scenes towards the end of the couples in their beds discussing families (with mixed responses) strike an optimistic note for the future of one couple and a bleaker one for the other.
Leigh's preference towards simple, non-flashy camerawork that focuses on the actors is in evidence once again, and as usual it yields solid results. Award winning cinematographer Remi Adefarasin does a superb job of exploiting the entirely location-based shoot (which was filmed in a suburb of Canterbury), making the two houses as much characters as the people living in them. The excellent cast sees Leigh reunited with Sam Kelly and Phil Davis from 'Who's Who' and also includes Brenda Blethyn, Lesley Manville, Lindsay Duncan and Janine Duvitski. Blethyn, in her first collaboration with Leigh, steals the show as the hysterical, self-unaware Gloria, although Duncan - for reasons best known only to herself - adopts a distractingly bizarre accent as Christine. But that aside, everybody gives naturalistic performances, Leigh's approach to film-making allowing them as usual to totally immerse themselves in their characters.
Mike Leigh's films are well known, his television plays (aside from 'Abigail's Party' and 'Nuts in May') less so. Nevertheless, they are often just as rewarding as his cinematic ventures and 'Grown-Ups' - despite leaving one feeling vaguely depressed at the claustrophobic banality of its protagonists lives - is one of his best.
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Any chance that this movie could be reuploaded ive tried to download a couple of times now both the 1080p & 720 but always gets stuck around 18% due to seeders..much appreciated if you could reupload..