Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

cburgess-95885 I saw Mike Leigh's film "Meantime" when it came out in 1983. It was disturbing then, just as it is now, 35 years later. If anyone would like to know what it was like to live in the U.K. when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, then watching Mike Leigh's film "Meantime" will give them some idea of how bad it was. It's 1983, Margaret Thatcher has been in power for four years. The country is in recession. Unemployment is endemic. The miners are out on strike, protesting about the government's plan to shut down Unprofitable mines, thereby putting countless miners out of work. A resurgent IRA makes an attempt on Thatcher's life by blowing up the hotel where she was staying for the Conservative Party's Annual Conference. She Survived the bombing and eventually, crushes the miner's union. It's against this background that the film is set. For the Pollock family, who are unwilling victims of what came to be known as "Thatcherism" and life was tough. They barely scrape by, living in a small, cramped flat in a tower block in London's East End. The Wife, Mavis (Pam Ferris) her husband, Frank (Jeffrey Robert) and their two sons: Colin (Tim Roth) and Mark (Phil Daniels) are all on the dole. They constantly get on each other's nerves, and feet. Mavis continually nags her husband Frank to get a job; Frank in turn, harasses his sons to find work, even though he doesn't seem to be making any effort himself. Colin is rather slow and quiet. His older brother is the total opposite: loud mouthed, self-opinionated and posses a cruel streak, often calling Colin "Kermit" and "Muppet" Looking for a job is is too hard: so they don't try. This that kind of self-defeatist logic, both Colin and mark are lucky to have a roof over their head and three square meals a day, even though their parents drive them demented. To relieve the boredom, Colin makes friends with an obnoxious skinhead named Coxy (Gary Oldman's first starring role). This gets up his brother's nose. Mark spends his time cadging money from friends or visiting the unemployment office. Their aunt Barbara (Marion Bailey) offers Colin a chance to earn some cash by helping her redecorate her home, but a jealous Mark, when he finds out, goes round to the house and begins to taunt Colin mercilessly before storming out. When Colin arrives back home his had his head shaved. He looks like a skinhead, but does not act like one. Note: "Meantime" was made at a time when the British Film Industry was under threat from funding cuts by the Thatcher government. Thatcher had little interest in the arts or in cinema, so it's a tribute to the tenacity of directors like Mike Leigh, who, in common with his fellow filmmakers, refused to be intimidated by the likes of Margaret Thatcher.

IanPhillips The raw, hard-hitting 'Meantime' (1983), exploring strong social and political issues of the day (mainly the high unemployment level), evokes the deep working-class despair of "Thatcher's Britain" in the early 1980's. Powerful and gritty in content, 'Meantime' shrewdly captures that era in British cultural history impeccably well. Although the film has its moments of humour, the film is overly razor-sharp and (in my opinion) ranks as one of Mike Leigh's very best films! This, of course, is also largely due to the impressive, stellar cast line-up, boasting the outstanding talents of the dynamic Phil Daniels, Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Pam Ferris, Marion Bailey, Alfred Molina and Jeff Robert, who each possess the skill and talent of being able to improvise their scenes, proving to be highly effective in this case. The cast are all perfect in their naturalistic style of acting and carefully prepared, astutely observed and expertly structured characterisations.'Meantime' follows the working-class Pollack family, headed by Mavis (Pam Ferris) and Frank (Jeff Robert) who seemingly have little time for their sons, the mentally-challenged Colin (Tim Roth) and ever-sarcastic and troublesome Mark (Phil Daniels). The Pollack family live on a bleak, run-down council tower block on a rough estate, having to survive on unemployment benefits. All the long, frustrating years of poverty and incessant struggling have virtually made the family give up on life. They don't live, they just exist. They have no dreams or ambitions to speak of, all content on just plodding through life in the only way they know how. Tim Roth is totally superb as Colin. Colin hadn't had much of a chance or the best start in life, having had little encouragement given to him other than by his loving Aunty Barbara. Colin had been bullied incessantly and had the mickey taken out of him all his life. He is not retarded, though, as Tim Roth points out on the interview for this special edition DVD. Rather it's a case of him being severely psychologically damaged from all the years of bullying and being ordered around by others so he doesn't know how to think for himself and gradually over the years had sank deeper and deeper into himself. It must be said that the genuine humanity of the family becomes patently clear near the ending - they all love one another, just all the long , hard years of struggling and living in the grim block of flats had obviously taken its toll, grinding all of them down.Colin practically follows his older brother Mark (Phil Daniels) around like a loyal puppy, looking up to him and desperately wanting his friendship, love, respect and acceptance. Mark, though, sees Colin as a "muppet", makes fun out of him at every opportunity and orders him around, belittling him, yet loves and protects him at the same time. Eventually Colin befriends one of Marks mates Coxy (Gary Oldman), an even more mentally-challenged lad living on the same estate, who is a skinhead, racist and thug. Phil Daniels is, as always, brilliant in his role. In the first scene at Aunty Barbara's house, he appears completely arrogant and far from likable . Somehow, as the film progresses, you begin to warm to the character, not least down to Phil's excellent performance. You do feel hints of Marks frustration of him being unemployed and its like there's something in him that indeed does want to better himself in some way and find a way out of the dead end lifestyle he'd been living, but sadly not really knowing quite how.Gary Oldman is also superb as the mentally-challenged and seemingly deranged skinhead Coxy, who Colin mistakenly looks up to. There's a rather off-beat scene where Coxy tales Colin along to visit his girlfriend at her flat where his behaviour becomes more unhinged than ever. There's actually very little of Alfred Molina here, who is in a less interesting role as the superficial, two-timing John. His character has little time or affection for his increasingly frustrated and suppressed wife Barbara. The most touching (and my favourite) scenes are at the end of the film where Colin returns home to the flat after running out of Barbara's, wearing his parka jacket with the hood up; his parents shout at him and Mavis goes to clout him round the ear but Mark intervenes and protects him. Then much to all of their shock, Colin, uncharacteristically, stands up for himself, shouting back at them. From that point on a mutual respect and a deeper bond between Mark and Colin emerges, and they have a heart to heart while Mavis listens from outside the bedroom door and afterwards she (inadvertently) shows she does have feelings. The next morning Mark discovers Colin's skinhead (hence why he slept all night in his parka jacket with the hood up) and jokingly nicknames him Kojak - but this time, and unlike before, he's laughing with him not at him.'Meantime' is a true British classic and an interesting social document of its time. Utterly compelling from start to finish, not letting your attention lapse until the credits roll, this is a thoroughly absorbing, gritty drama with a top-notch, impressive cast. A pure masterpiece!Ian Phillips

PeterMitchell-506-564364 Meantime is one of my favorite amongst favorite films. It doesn't pretend to be something's it's not. This is a movie that deserves more exposure. Our three male leads, Daniels, Roth, and Oldman are excellent, but it's Daniel's powerful performance that excels in the acting honors. He and his slow brother, Roth, who's just great to watch act here, like their Mother and Father are, all on the dole. We even see what's it's like standing in line, in the dole office, amidst the frustration, anger and shame, that we see all too real in these offices. Daniels even blows his top to the office woman, after she quotes, "You're not making our jobs any easier" where he replies, "We're not talking about your jobs. We're talking about our jobs". But luck is looking up, when the Aunt offers, Colin (Roth) a job opportunity, which brings jealousy from Daniel's, who tries to sway him away from the job on his first day, where he actually goes to his place of employment, which is actually the Aunt's place, to paint her walls. See how hard this family's got it. Baldie/punk Oldman is like Daniel's sidekick, an over the top character, who makes a meal of his role, and in one scene where he crashes a girl's place with Roth, we're witness to some real scary type behavior where too it's just great acting. It's these actors that carry this movie, although we have great support too from everyone that carries their weight, including the versatile Molina as the much better off Aunt's, successful and snooty husband, where compared to the other family, they're living in paradise. The scene prior to Oldman's outburst, where he insults a black English guy while standing in an elevator with Roth was amusing, with Oldman cringing some, showed him to be really weak underneath. This black guy and his wife are brought into the story too, although they have no ties with the other players which was interesting I thought. There's so many interesting scenes in this film, though I can't imagine ever watching this without Daniels. I loved it when he and the father went toe to toe at the end, with the father just learning of the secret trip he took to the Aunt's, beating Colin who of course, nitwit that he is, got lost. It was an explosive acting moment, a scene every budding actor would love to do. And why did Daniels stay behind with the Aunt. Later the unhappy Aunt says to hubby on his return home, "John, did you ever fancy someone else", that kind of leaves our perverted imagination to run a little wild as to suggest Daniels and her were an item. Her harsh response at hubby who makes a dinner suggestion, was funny, where reading her face after, there's the trace of a smile, as though she's lifted off some heavy burden. The philosophical young housing contractor is something of a surprise too, finishing his sentences mostly with "Okay" and "Yeah". He prefers floors to chairs too when sitting. This is a must see film, to really see how the misfortunate tough it out. Director Leigh too is interesting, with the filming of some of his shots, e.g. a hallway scene where afar, the mother is trying to get the washing dryer to work. Other people enter the shot, hurrying into other rooms, whatever, only, we're only viewing them merely from the legs down. Some of Daniel's cheeky remarks, that run constant throughout, are priceless. He even nicknames his brother Kermit, the anthem following.

groggo I'm a big fan of Mike Leigh's gritty films, and 'Meantime' fits well into his admirable canon. He examines the lives of 'ordinary people' unlike any other filmmaker I know. Here, his microscope (forget the lens) is on a NON-working class (perhaps proletarian without the peasant's earth) family in 'estate' housing in the wretched suburbs of London. Once again, as in all his films, Leigh, using his well-known improvisational rehearsal-and-execution technique, receives razor-sharp performances from his cast. At the centre of this work are two simply superb performances: Phil Daniels as Mark and Tim Roth as his mentally 'slow' younger brother Colin. Anyone who has had a sibling will recognize the evolution of the relationship between these two. It's universal in its reach.Splendid acting abounds and carries 'Meantime'. As the parents, Jeff Robert and Pam Ferris are all-but-tactile with their sizzling frustration and rage. Gary Oldman as a deeply disaffected youngster is wonderful. A very brief scene where he rolls in a barrel, mindlessly banging it with both hands, is both riveting and disturbing.The quibbles I have with this film are perhaps minor to some, but of concern to me. One is Andrew Dickson's music. Is that a zither playing in an Egyptian carnival dance band? It is initially just jarring, but then it becomes downright annoying and intrusive.I quite frankly could have used subtitles in 'Meantime'. Whole sentences just went past me. It's necessary for the stark social realism of Leigh's settings, but for non-Londoners, this can, at times, be rough going. I listened to fragments of this dialogue and it became an exercise in linguistic irony: these characters live in the country where the English language was BORN.Doesn't matter; it's still a great and very moving film.