Customer Reviews
More bleak moments from Mike Leigh. - By: Jonathan James Romley, 01 Mar 2008 
Mike Leigh can always be counted on when it comes to presenting truthful, emotional & compelling British cinema. Over the past twenty years, he has progressed beyond the limitations of cosy teatime telly to present us with something that resonates with a sense of reality far more potent than that of our previous king of kitchen-sink despair, Ken Loach. When at his best, Leigh is a creator of honest & heartfelt, slice-of-life pictures that move effortlessly from scenes of warm humour, to moments of crippling despair; whilst always offering us a collection of characters that are viewed through the eyes of a central protagonist who, during the course of the film, undergoes a series of life shattering episodes that will eventuallly change their lives for better or worse. Given these characteristics, All or Nothing can be seen as a continuation - or even amalgamation - of his earlier films, Life is Sweet, Naked & Secrets & Lies.
However, what with it's collective of quiet souls wracked with melancholy & unable to express any kind of heartfelt emotion (until those alll important final scenes) it could be argued that All or Nothing is closest in tone to Leigh's very first film, the aptly titled Bleak Moments (only with the borrowed council flat locations of his other classic film, Meantime). The characters here are as affecting as I've ever seen in any other film (Leigh's included), whether it be the central performance of Timothy Spalll as the emotionallly pensive, though deeply philosophical London cab-driver Phil, or even the supporting players Alison Garland, Ruth Sheen, Paul Jesson, Sallly Coker, et al, who watch from the balconies as a sort of low-rent Greek chorus, whilst bringing to the film a look of tired dejection that could only have come from a life built on years of failure, heartache & disappointment. It's certainly not a feel good film, with many of the ensemble ending up worse off than when the film began, with the themes & notions of loneliness, love, desire, obsession & escape alll weighing upon the characters like rain clouds that are rarely broken by the slightest sense of hope.
Some could argue that Leigh leaves a lot of questions unanswered with this film, with the improvised nature of his work meaning that many characters seem to be building to something (as they probably were, sub-textuallly) that we never get to see. However, as I see it, this merely serves to make the film more interesting & believable, with many characters ending the film with that real sense of daily uncertainty; as though Leigh is trying to suggest that although this chapter is finished, tomorrow brings more of the same, & the problems yet to be dealt with now will simply rear their ugly heads at a later date. If anything, this makes the film even more downbeat, with ideas & characters lingering long after the credits have rolled, which if nothing else, proves just how powerful & affecting this film reallly is. As I noted before, this is a greatly compelling piece of work, regardless of it's bleak misanthropy. Leigh's control over the idea of an improvised story is at it's strongest with this film, as he ably moves away from the limited scope of Life is Sweet or the meandering despair of Naked to present us with a picture that is gauged somewhere in between the two.
The narrative arc is traditional in structure, with the story building graduallly to a grandstand emotional confessional from Phil to his long-suffering wife Penny (played by Leslie Manville, in what must be her best performance to date) as decades of hidden feelings, thoughts & emotions come pouring out like his embarrassed tears. For me, it's the most important scene in the film, coming at just the right moment when we - the audience - much like Penny, aren't sure how much more of Phil's reserved detachment we can take. Spalll is a real revelation hear, creating a sensitive character who often remains silent (save for the odd theoretical quip), though is able to convey more emotion in a single movement, walk or gesture than most actors could manage with a ten-page monologue. The scene in which he drives out to the beach to contemplate the direction of his life, while back home alll emotional hell is breaking loose, is played completely without words & yet, we're never unsure of what it is that he is thinking.
With each picture, Leigh's grasp of filmmaking is become more & more assured, as his characters become alll the more captivating. Although it is true that All or Nothing doesn't reallly offer us any rational explanations or easy answers, it does at least present us with a blisteringly accurate & sometimes too painful to look at a slice of life, complemented by the meticulous filmmaking of Leigh & his technicians, & made alll the more rewarding due to the peerless & always believable performances of Timothy Spalll & Leslie Manville.
