High Hopes Review
After working for nearly two decades almost exclusively in British television, writer/director Mike_Leigh asserted himself as a feature film director with this sly, rousing study of various malcontents languishing in Margaret Thatcher's upwardly mobile 1980s London. Leigh's loosely devised film is a series of incidents among a half-dozen or so residents of a London neighborhood, of varying ages, political convictions, and economic status. Though each character is essentially an archetype of his or her particular social class, the film never resorts to left-wing posturing or becomes a stale treatise on the state of the nation. Instead, Leigh achieves exhilarating moviegoing highs from his characteristic emphasis on improvisation and genuine human interaction. Despite the film's workshop origins, it's less writerly or actorly than other Leigh movies; an effortless vitality permeates every scene, and Leigh reveals his wider themes -- of social consciousness and human compassion -- through focusing on the details of everyday life. Michael Hastings, Rovi
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