Hard Labour

That was depressing! O.o I appreciate the observations Leigh presents on his characters here, but occasionally I'm tempted to think this one is relentlessly grim and not a huge amount more.

Typical Leigh for the most part, with equal doses misery and humour (sometimes at once), though not as strong as his later efforts. The fleshing out of at least the main character isn't done til the very end, making me wonder if this could've done with an extra dozen or so minutes to expand on this. Look out for an early role from Ben Kingsley.

This needs a lot more recognition than it deserves. This is 100% pure cinema people.

"Has nobody not told you, Brian, that you've got this kind of gleeful preoccupation with the future? I wouldn't even mind, but you don't even have a fuckin' future, I don't have a future. Nobody has a future. The party's over." - Johnny, Naked