best movie i've ever seen.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

'Meantime' offers one of the most honest depictions of suffocating domesticity. This is a languidly paced slice-of-life film where Mike Leigh leaves no stone unturned to give us a raw representation of financial hopelessness and social disenchantment in Margaret Thatcher's England. The film mostly follows the members of the Pollocks, a working class London family who live in a state of perennial stagnation. Everyone is unemployed and the whole family has no option but to survive on the weekly dole provided by the government. The members of the family namely Frank, Mavia and the brothers Mark & Colin do very little apart from sitting on the sofas of their cramped apartment and watching television. Leigh takes his time to capture the disillusionment, the constant sense of internal humiliation and jealousy that exists in this household. Once we leave the apartment, Leigh introduces us to a few other characters like the idiosyncratic skinhead Coxy, the really shy neighbourhood girl Hayley(whom Colin crushes over) and of course the John & Barbara who are related to the Pollocks by way of Barbara being Mavia's sister.Leigh enriches the film by giving each of the characters in the film their own unique traits and behavioral tendencies which only add to the raw grounded realism. There is a clear indication of clash between classes in the very opening scene where the viewer can feel the tension caused by the jealousy of Frank and Mavia for having to spend time in the suburban home of John and Barbara who at times inadvertently make Frank and Mavia conscious of the financial contrasts between the two families. There is also a scene involving Coxy and a black man in an elevator which is filled to the brim with racially charged tension. But in an overall sense Leigh is trying to convey that when society as a whole goes through a period of cultural decadence and economic stagnation, the class struggles and racial tension is a possible eventuality.From a visual standpoint, Leigh makes the apartment rooms look as cramped up, restrictive and claustrophobic as possible. He extensively uses close-ups of characters' faces in pretty much every scene to capture reactions. The visual style is a deliberate attempt to complement and convey the sense of entrapment experienced by the characters. The acting as expected is very naturalistic. Tim Roth deserves special mention for expertly portraying the character of the 'slow' Colin. He conveys a lot without words, with the help of his expressive eyes.'Meantime' can seem a little too dour and depressing for some viewers. But just like the Italian neo-realist films of the 40s and 50s, this is a film that has one solitary intention which is to capture the essence and spirit of an ailing contemporary society with very little hope. It showcases the effects of the all- encompassing forces of poverty and cultural aimlessness. It's not cheery, but it isn't meant to be. It is what it is and I believe it achieves success in being what it is.

you look a 80s workersclass to turn on white trash but be patient the movie is slow slower than collin the aunt rocks the black dude was the best scene off the movie the movie looks unfinished halfdone with no real idea wtf are we doing here promote tons off cigars and bad acting everywhere the writer never get in depth of characters accept collin slow times so slow i slept two times in a movie i saw that piece of commercial break smokers and that all no depth no plot a girl from italia a skin wacko tracko packo i was expecting something more some times the tension was high and the the scenewriter throw the page out of scenario take a look at heley's house if had a rape scene or suicide from skin to turn the movie attencion i don't know if that movie was a hit at 80s but 2017 watching was so hard and waiting and waiting for a real scene who never came (

This movie is a portrayal of the poor working class, on the Dole and their frustration with Thatcherism. Auntie Barbara represents a working class girl, gone to college, married up and now lives a miserable existence with a cheating husband. She is fake and has to put on aires including changing her accent in order to work in the bank. Mark is a young man trying to survive in the terrible unemployment and realizing he has no future or that his future is what his parents have...nothing. Coxy shows the disillusionment of the youth as frustration and anger are apparent in his destruction of materialism. His "punk" clothing attire demonstrates his need to show the establishment the rebellion is at hand, and the working class is not going to take it anymore. Mark is slow, perhaps he is to represent how the working class is viewed by the other classes. The parents are on the Dole and have become stagnated in their existence. They see no way out of their predicament and have no goals to leave. They are products of the system.

Anyone who grew up in the early eighties in the suburbs listening to The Specials can relate to this. Leigh, as he has done with every decade provides an accurate social comment of the time, the sheer boredom of a disaffected youth, the pointlessness of life without a job and the struggle to fill the days, with something to do. Personally I think it ranks up there with Leigh finest work, helped by an outstanding performance by Tim Roth and wonderful cameos by Gary Oldman, Phil Daniels and Marion Bailey. If you're English born in the seventies and like Mike Leigh it's a must, if your not there still plenty to marvel at. Enjoy.