Meantime
A slow-burning depiction of economic degradation in Thatcher’s England, Mike Leigh’s Meantime is the culmination of the writer-director’s pioneering work in television. Unemployment is rampant in London’s working-class East End, where a middle-aged couple and their two sons languish in a claustrophobic public-housing flat. As the brothers (Phil Daniels and Tim Roth) grow increasingly disaffected, Leigh punctuates the grinding boredom of their daily existence with tense encounters, including with a priggish aunt (Marion Bailey) who has managed to become middle-class and a blithering skinhead on the verge of psychosis (a scene-stealing Gary Oldman, in his first major role). Informed by Leigh’s now trademark improvisational process and propelled by the lurching rhythms of its Beckett-like dialogue, Meantime is an unrelenting, often blisteringly funny look at life on the dole.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Roger Pratt and director Mike Leigh, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Leigh and musician Jarvis Cocker
- New conversation between actor Marion Bailey and critic Amy Raphael
- Interview from 2007 with actor Tim Roth
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Sean O’Sullivan
New cover by Anita Kunz
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Roger Pratt and director Mike Leigh, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Leigh and musician Jarvis Cocker
- New conversation between actor Marion Bailey and critic Amy Raphael
- Interview from 2007 with actor Tim Roth
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Sean O’Sullivan
New cover by Anita Kunz
Cast
- Phil Daniels
- Mark
- Tim Roth
- Colin
- Marion Bailey
- Barbara
- Pam Ferris
- Mavis
- Jeff Robert
- Frank
- Gary Oldman
- Coxy
- Tilly Vosburgh
- Hayley
- Alfred Molina
- John
Credits
- Director
- Mike Leigh
- Produced by
- Graham Benson
- Director of photography
- Roger Pratt
- Editor
- Lesley Walker
- Art director
- Diana Charnley
- Sound recordist
- Malcolm Hirst
- Music composed by
- Andrew Dickson
- Music played by
- Andrew Dickson
- Music played by
- George Khan
- Costumes by
- Lindy Hemming
- Makeup artist
- Sandra Shepherd
A scene from Meantime
