Mike Leigh's 'All or Nothing' features some of the trademarks of his best known films: naturalistic acting, moments of extreme poignancy, and a sensitive portrait of those for whom modern life is not easy. But it lacks the more comic characters who have often adorned his work. In their absence, the result is one of his most understated, and downbeat, movies since his debut feature 'Bleak Moments'; and in spite of little jewels in the script, at times its almost painfully hard to watch. Additionally, the portrait of a very white British underclass, and the empty streets of the estate where they live, doesn't quite seem in tune with life as it is actually lived today. To my mind (and despite the Oscar nominations won by 'Secrets and Lies) Leigh's best contemporary portraits remains his early 1990s trio: the bittersweet 'High Hopes', the hilarious 'Life is Sweet' and the coruscating 'Naked'; but as he followed this film with the brilliant period drama 'Vera Drake', maybe he simply needed a change of scene to refocus his vision. Still, this film is definitely a minor entry in his canon.
Review of All or Nothing
