Mike Leigh Retrospective at HOME 7 - 30 November 2021
Mike Leigh to attend a Q&A following a screening of new 4K remaster of Naked
This November, HOME is part of BFI’s UK-wide celebration of the career of multi-award winning, Salford-born filmmaker Mike Leigh, one of Britain’s most internationally recognised and critically acclaimed directors working today.
This special season which focuses on the filmmaker’s early works coincides with the re-release of Mike Leigh’s Naked, winner of Best Director and Best Actor (David Thewlis) at Cannes Film Festival in 1993. Newly remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive, Naked will screen as part of the season on 12 November, followed by an on-stage Q&A with the director himself.
The full programme reveals the breadth of Leigh’s achievements from the early social realism of his first feature Bleak Moments to his explorations of Britain in the 1980s with Meantime and High Hopes. His BBC Play For Today classic Nuts in May will also screen alongside other notable television work including Grown-Ups, his pointed exploration of class differences in contemporary Britain, and Hard Labour the first work he made for television in 1973, which screens in a special double-bill with Kiss of Death, starring David Threlfall in his small screen debut.
Renowned for his working methods that allow characters to emerge from research and development with actors, Leigh has become one of British cinema’s most distinctive voices. This selection of films reflects Leigh’s ability to cast some of the best performing talents of the day, including: Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Liz Smith, David Threlfall, Ruth Sheen, Phil Davis, Alison Steadman, Lesley Manville, Lindsay Duncan, Brenda Blethyn, and many more.
A seven-time Oscar nominee, winner of five BAFTAs, and nominated for another ten BAFTA awards, he is also the only British director to have won the top prize at both Cannes (for Secrets & Lies, 1996) and Venice (for Vera Drake, 2004).
Alongside the HOME and BFI seasons, there will be a nationwide re-release of Naked by the BFI in UK cinemas from 12 November and on Blu-ray, for the first time in the UK, on 22 November. In addition, there will be a BFI Blu-ray release of Leigh’s Bleak Moments (1971) - remastered by the BFI in 4K - on 22 November, and a Mike Leigh collection on BFI Player. StudioCanal will also release 4K remasters of All or Nothing and Vera Drake on Blu-ray for the first time on 15 November.
The HOME season has been programmed by Andy Willis, HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film and Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford.
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Tickets are now on sale now via www.homemcr.org or the HOME Box Office on +44 (0)161 200 1500.
FULL PROGRAMME DETAILS - MIKE LEIGH RETROSPECTIVE AT HOME
Bleak Moments (CTBA)
Sun 7 Nov, 13:00
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1971/106 mins
Anne Raitt, Sarah Stephenson, Eric Allan
Albert Finney and Michael Medwin’s Memorial Films supported Mike Leigh in adapting his play Moments for the screen. The film focuses on the life of Sylvia, an office worker who lives with her sister Hilda. Their life is one of isolation and unfulfillment, interspersed with encounters with others who seem equally limited in their achievements. Leigh’s exploration of modern life in the early 1970s is given even more depth by its astonishing central performances. Film critic Roger Ebert said that, ‘Bleak Moments is a masterpiece, plain and simple.’
Meantime (15)
Tue 9 Nov, 18:00
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1983/102 mins
Phil Daniels, Tim Roth, Marion Bailey
Working for the first time in collaboration with Channel 4, through Meantime Mike Leigh offers another portrait of Britain that focuses on a particular family unit. Made in 1983, it centres on brothers Mark and Colin (two excellent performances from Phil Daniels and Tim Roth) who are unemployed, living at home with their parents and trying to make ends meet. What on the surface seems a fractious relationship slowly develops into something much more moving. Reflecting Leigh’s ability to cast some of the best performing talents of the day, here he includes Pam Ferris, Alfred Molina and Gary Oldman. With thanks to the BFI National TV Archive.
Naked (18) + Q&A with Mike Leigh
Fri 12 Nov, 17:30
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1993/132 mins
David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge
Mike Leigh won the Best Director and David Thewlis Best Actor at the 1993 Cannes film festival for this, one of the filmmaker’s most uncompromising works. The film follows the often uncomfortable encounters of Thewlis’ Johnny as he journeys through London. Developed once again using the director’s particular method of collaboration with his performers, Naked dissects a Britain, dripping with alienation and disaffection, in the thrall of post-Thatcherism. In doing so, he creates one of his most distinctive and controversial works.
Screening in a new 4K restoration.
Event details: We will be joined by director Mike Leigh for a Q&A following the screening.
TV Double Bill/ Hard Labour + Kiss of Death (12A)
Sun 21 Nov, 13:00
This double bill of work made for television showcases some of Mike Leigh’s work from the 1970s:
Hard Labour (PG)
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1973/74 mins
Liz Smith, Clifford Kershaw, Polly Hemingway
Hard Labour was the first work the director made for television, produced by Tony Garnett and screened as part of the BBC’s Play for Today strand. Unusually for Leigh this piece is set in his home city of Salford. At its centre is a remarkable performance by Liz Smith as Mrs Thornley, a cleaner whose life offers glimpses of a Britain populated by people who are increasingly isolated from each other.
Kiss of Death (12)
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1977/80 mins
David Threlfall, John Wheatley, Kay Adshead
Kiss of Death is another north-west-set Play for Today from Leigh, this time set in Oldham and focused on youth. David Threlfall makes his TV debut as a shy young mortician’s assistant Trevor. Hanging out at the pub with his mate Ronnie, he meets Linda. Can he overcome his reserved nature and open up new horizons?
With thanks to the BFI National TV Archive.
High Hopes (15)
Tue 23 Nov, 17:45
Wed 24 Nov, 13:00
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1988/113 mins
Phil Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré
Another wonderfully crafted dissection of class in contemporary Britain. A wry comedy, High Hopes once again centres on a couple and their wider family, here that of Shirley and Cyril, played with relish by Ruth Sheen and Phil Davis. Living in London, they have to negotiate the forthcoming 70th birthday of Cyril’s mother, Shirley’s desire to have a child, the gentrification of their neighbourhood, and the arrival of that particularly 1980s character, the yuppie. At its core the film explores the idea of inertia or action against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world that has the potential to leave people behind. The film won the Critics’ Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1988.
Nuts in May (PG)
Sat 27 Nov, 13:30
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1976/84 mins
Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Anthony O’Donnell
One of Mike Leigh’s best loved works, Nuts in May was first broadcast as part of the BBC’s Play For Today strand in 1976. Keith (Roger Sloman) and Candice Marie (Alison Steadman) head to Dorset for a camping holiday. Their break has been organised with great precision by Keith who has filled their time with activities and refuses to budge from his finely honed itinerary. When Ray pitches his tent next to them, Keith’s dreams of peace are destroyed, his annoyance (and jealousy) heightened when Candice Marie befriends the young man. The arrival of Finger and Honky, who refuse to follow the country code, makes things even worse, making Keith even more frustrated.
With thanks to the BFI National TV Archive.
Grown-Ups (PG)
Tue 30 Nov, 18:00
Dir Mike Leigh/GB 1980/95 mins
Phil Davis, Lesley Manville, Brenda Blethyn
First screened in 1980 as part of the BBC’s Playhouse strand, Grown-Ups is one of Mike Leigh’s most pointed explorations of class differences in contemporary Britain. The film focuses on the parallel lives of a working-class couple, Dick and Mandy (Phil Davis and Lesley Manville), and their middleclass neighbours. After moving into a new council house, Dick and Mandy discover that the private house next door is owned by their old teacher Mr Butcher (Sam Kelly). Laced with comedy Grown-Ups explores how class can impact on attitudes to even the most everyday things.
With thanks to the BFI National TV Archive.
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