Match Cut Directors Consensus - Mike Leigh

[dreamdead]

It's that time for Boner M., iosos, Winston* (maybe), and me to dominate. It's Mike Leigh time, aka Week 21. Rules and details are here (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=26509&postcount=1).

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0742.jpg

[dreamdead]

High Hopes - 8.5
Life is Sweet - 7
Naked - 10
Secrets and Lies - 9.5
Career Girls - 7
Topsy Turvy - 8
All or Nothing - 8

[Boner M]

Meantime - 6.5
The Short and Curlies - 7.5
High Hopes - 8
Life is Sweet - 8.5
Naked - 10
Secrets and Lies - 9.5
Career Girls - 7.5
Topsy-Turvy - 7
All or Nothing - 10
Vera Drake - 7.5
Happy-Go-Lucky - 7

[ledfloyd]

Naked - 10
Secrets and Lies - 9
All or Nothing - 8

[balmakboor]

Life is Sweet - 9
Naked - 10
Secrets and Lies - 9
Topsy-Turvy - 7
Vera Drake - 8

[Mysterious Dude]

Secrets & Lies - 9.0
Topsy-Turvy - 10.0
All or Nothing - 7.0
Vera Drake - 7.5

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Naked - 9

[Ezee E]

Could Mike Leigh be Santa?

Sadly, I've seen none by him. I'll see what I can do about that.

[Boner M]

More hott pics:

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00015/mikeleigh_15479t.jpg

http://www.fest21.com/files/images/Mike%20Leigh_0.jpg

http://image.guim.co.uk/Guardian/film/gallery/2008/mar/25/mikeleighpiecesofme/leigh3-1584.jpg

[Yxklyx]

Naked - 9
Secrets and Lies - 8
Topsy-Turvy - 7
All or Nothing - 7
Vera Drake - 7

[Sven]

Bleak Moments - 8.5 (talk about a movie with staying power)
Hard Labour - 7.5
Nuts In May - 8
Kiss Of Death - 7.5
Abigail's Party - 8.5
Who's Who - 8.5
Grown Ups - 7
Home Sweet Home - 9
Meantime - 6 (should've been way better)
Four Days In July - 9
Life is Sweet - 10
Naked - 8
Secrets & Lies - 10
Career Girls - 8
Topsy-Turvy - 10
All or Nothing - 8
Vera Drake - 7.5

I saw most of his television stuff at a stretch, so a lot of it blends together in my mind, which is why the ratings are all so similar. All are due for a rewatch. I'm very upset that I have not seen High Hopes by this point. Can't wait to see Happy Go Lucky.

[Spinal]

Naked - 6
Secrets and Lies - 8.5
Career Girls - 8
Topsy Turvy - 8.5

[Our Aurora]

Bleak Moments - 9
Grown-Ups - 8
Nuts In May - 6.5
Who's Who - 7.5
Meantime - 6
Naked - 9
Secrets & Lies - 10
Career Girls - 8.5
All or Nothing - 9.5
Vera Drake - 9

[Bosco B Thug]

Home Sweet Home - 9 Someone's seen Home Sweet Home! I love Home Sweet Home. Nuts in May is fun and Grown Ups is pretty great, but Home Sweet Home is where it's at. Hmmm, can't say I liked Abigail's Party all that much, though.

Gonna try and see more of his British TV offerings before posting scores. A bunch are INSTANT WATCH on Netflix now too. Life is Sweet and High Hopes have proved impossible to find, though, and Topsy Turvy isn't on Netflix. :(

[Stay Puft]

Vera Drake - 8

[soitgoes...]

Naked (1993) - 9.0
Secrets & Lies (1996) - 10
Topsy-Turvy (1999) - 7.0
Vera Drake (2004) - 7.0

[Qrazy]

Naked - 8.5
Secrets and Lies - 7

[Raiders]

Life is Sweet (1991) 8.5
Naked (1993) 9.5
Secrets & Lies (1996) 9.0
Topsy-Turvy (1999) 7.5
Vera Drake (2004) 8.0

[BirdsAteMyFace]

Vera Drake - 7.0

[Derek]

Bleak Moments - 6.5
Hard Labour - 6.0
High Hopes - 7.5
Life is Sweet - 8.0
Naked - 9.0
Secrets & Lies - 9.0
Career Girls - 5.0
Topsy-Turvy - 7.5
All or Nothing - 8.5
Vera Drake - 8.0

[thefourthwall]

Naked - 10
Happy-Go-Lucky - 8.5

[Silencio]

Naked - 9
Vera Drake - 7

[eternity]

Naked- 8

That's it, I'm afraid.

[Boner M]

Added Happy-Go-Lucky. Have to say, I was more annoyed than endeared by Poppy, as undeniably virtuosic as Hawkins' performance is; this makes the film's optimism decidedly hard to catch on. The scenes between her and the driving instructor are excellent, though... Eddie Marsan is just dynamite, definitely one of the best ever performances in a Leigh film.

Might have to sit on it, but for now I think it's a strong but comparatively minor work of his.

[Sycophant]

Naked - 10
Happy-Go-Lucky - 8.5
I don't know who you are, but you have a Home Movies avatar. So, here, have a very hearty WELCOME!

[dreamdead]

More hott pics:
http://www.fest21.com/files/images/Mike%20Leigh_0.jpg


What a smarmy-looking, yet jovial and cool man. I would want to chat with him just as much as I'd like to chat with Rohmer.



Topsy-Turvy - 10


We had this discussion when I felt that the film was a marvelous depiction of Leigh's willingness to film a more or less innocent, childlike enthusiasm of the theater, but what is your attraction to this film? Beyond the remarkable closing and Leigh's utilization of the wife's confession, as well as the typically excellent mise en scene, it feels more perfunctory than revelatory. That said, I feel like I need to see Vera Drake to better understand his attraction to historical pieces of English history...

[thefourthwall]

Added Happy-Go-Lucky. Have to say, I was more annoyed than endeared by Poppy, as undeniably virtuosic as Hawkins' performance is; this makes the film's optimism decidedly hard to catch on. The scenes between her and the driving instructor are excellent, though... Eddie Marsan is just dynamite, definitely one of the best ever performances in a Leigh film.

Might have to sit on it, but for now I think it's a strong but comparatively minor work of his.

While I found Poppy's attitude ridiculous at first, as the film continued I realized that she wasn't oblivious to reality but intentional about how she responded to it, impressing me with her extremely high, not low, level of maturity.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen enough of Leigh's films to place it in a large context. I am intrigued by how antithetical Poppy is to Johnny in Naked, making me want to see the films in between that bring Leigh from him to her.

[origami_mustache]

Vera Drake - 7.5

[Watashi]

Naked - 8

Tried watching Vera Drake, but turned it off due to pure boredom and never bothered to return.

[dreamdead]

Mike Leigh interview for his newest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69HFS6Tie7I&eurl=http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2008/07/links-for-day-july-3rd-2008.html)...

[Sven]

Mike Leigh interview for his newest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69HFS6Tie7I&eurl=http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2008/07/links-for-day-july-3rd-2008.html)...

I always figured Leigh would be more Saruman than Gimli. I'm surprised at how small, yet virile, he seems when he speaks.

[soitgoes...]

Updated my original post to include Topsy-Turvy. Everything about the film is pretty great outside of it being 160 minutes on Gilbert and Sullivan. Way too long for me.

[Ezee E]

Naked - 6

::Runs::

[dreamdead]

Naked - 6

::Runs::

:sad: Any reason for the low grade that you can articulate?

[Ezee E]

:sad: Any reason for the low grade that you can articulate?
I loved the way the movie was shot. The character, while hilarious even though I shouldn't be laughing, got a little old to me after a while. While at first I was intrigued, eventually it was getting tedious to me. On top of that, the women in the film didn't seem to have any thought put into them like the male characters. They were just there to be berated in the end.

I may check out more from him, but consider this a slight disappointment after seeing all the raves.

[Sven]

I may check out more from him, but consider this a slight disappointment after seeing all the raves.

Seriously, E, Naked is practically anomalous in Leigh's canon. See Secrets and Lies or Life is Sweet (if you can get your hands on it) for a more representative and accessible film. I also am somewhat bewildered at the unanimity of that film's uber-praise, even though I quite like it.

[dreamdead]

I loved the way the movie was shot. The character, while hilarious even though I shouldn't be laughing, got a little old to me after a while. While at first I was intrigued, eventually it was getting tedious to me. On top of that, the women in the film didn't seem to have any thought put into them like the male characters. They were just there to be berated in the end.


Interesting. I found Johnny consistently stimulating in his conversations, even though it becomes apparent that he uses language as a defense mechanism just as much as he is an apostle of words. There's a wealth of study on this film examining Johnny through a Socratic lens, and this kind of analysis is illuminating to me, since it underscores the (postmodern, if you will) imperfections that cloud his thinking. His abrasiveness toward women, then, becomes reflected in their own abrasion as they seek comfort in him; which is best concluded by the woman who casts Johnny out of her apartment. And the final between Louise and Johnny is affecting to me precisely because it highlights that she is aware of his failings, but, moreover, highlights how he himself is a victim of them as well as he flees.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna wait until tonight to post the scores (Bosco, last call!), but one of his films currently breaks into the Cream of the Crop for MC (+9.0).

[Bosco B Thug]

Ooh, ok, thanks.

Hard Labour - 7.5
Nuts In May - 7.5
Abigail's Party - 5.5
Grown Ups - 7.5
Home Sweet Home - 9
Naked - 9
Secrets & Lies - 8.5
All or Nothing - 8.5
Vera Drake - 8

[dreamdead]

Results:
Secrets and Lies – 9 (14)
Naked – 8.789 (19)
Life is Sweet – 8.5 (6)
All or Nothing – 8.2778 (9)
Topsy-Turvy – 7.95 (10)
Vera Drake – 7.643 (14)
Career Girls – 7.334 (6)
Overall: 8.2133

Did not Qualify:
Home Sweet Home – 9 (2)
Four Days in July – 9 (1)
High Hopes – 8 (3)
Bleak Moments – 8 (3)
Who’s Who – 8 (2)
Happy-Go-Lucky – 7.75 (2)
Grown Ups – 7.5 (3)
Kiss of Death – 7.5 (1)
Nuts in May – 7.333 (3)
Hard Labour – 7 (3)
Abigail’s Party – 7 (2)
Meantime – 6.1667 (3)

And with that, Secrets and Lies sneaks onto the MC hall of fame.

Most dedicated: iosos
Biggest Hater: uh… Ezee E?
Biggest Lover: iosos
Biggest Loser: those of us who don’t love Leigh’s work… that finely-trimmed beard.