Rating: 
Summary: Honest and enjoyable
Review: "Meantime" is a fascinating honest portrayal of a lower class family and their relatives and friends. All three men in the household are out of work and drive each other crazy when they aren't nursing their wounded pride with drink or petty criticisms. One son in the household, Colin, has built a life out of keeping his head down because he lacks the wit to compete intellectually. His brother Mark loves him but is jealous of any attention his brother receives so he alternates between bucking him up and tearing him down. Most of the acting is excellent and there is no denouement, sentimental focus, or social argument in it. It is just a humorous and tragic slice of life exalted by honesty.
Rating: 
Summary: One Star for the DVD only
Review: Don't buy this DVD. The sound is bad. The dialect in Leigh's films can be hard enough for us Yanks without having it be virtually inaudible and painfully blotted out by the music. The mix of this DVD is really bad and it spoils the movie. That said, the movie is fantastic; too bad the DVD does it such an injustice.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful movie, an awful DVD
Review: I'd give the movie five stars. The problem is, the DVD release from Fox Lorber is awful. There's something seriously wrong with the soundtrack; the dialog elements are drowned out by the music, and there's a synchronization problem that often leaves the left and right channel staggered by about half a second. Even more distracting, added sound effects often come from the wrong channel compared to the supposed visual source of the sound. My guess is that instead of using a properly mixed mono soundtrack, Fox Lorber went back to the multi-channel master tapes for the mono soundtrack and used them as a fake stereo master -- but did a really bad job on the mix. Whatever the technical explanation, it ruined my enjoyment of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful movie, an awful DVD
Review: I'd give the movie five stars. The problem is, the DVD release from Fox Lorber is awful. There's something seriously wrong with the soundtrack; the dialog elements are drowned out by the music, and there's a synchronization problem that often leaves the left and right channel staggered by about half a second. Even more distracting, added sound effects often come from the wrong channel compared to the supposed visual source of the sound. My guess is that instead of using a properly mixed mono soundtrack, Fox Lorber went back to the multi-channel master tapes for the mono soundtrack and used them as a fake stereo master -- but did a really bad job on the mix. Whatever the technical explanation, it ruined my enjoyment of the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Time Keeps On Slipping
Review: If you've any doubt of the difference between English and American cultures, watch this early Mike Leigh flick and then think about the fact that it was made for television. The writing in this dark little number is better than that of most of the movies released over here, let alone anything American-made you'll ever see on television. These are dark character sketches, and I too was reminded of Leigh's Naked as watched, though this movie doesn't share so much of Naked's explicit philosophizing. It does share similarly benighted characters, however, and a central character with the same shiftless way and easy ability to say whatever pops into his head. Phil Daniels portrays this character, Mark, the story's wise fool: he knows enough to understand his situation is a horrible one; he's quite adept at analyzing whatever goes on around him, and he's revolted by it; but he does little to extricate himself from the situation; his attitude reflects that of most in the film, expect perhaps for his aunt who is always somewhat futilely trying to adjust the status quo. Mark and his brother Colin and their father (who looks perfectly like an older Phil Daniels) are all on the dole, along with Gary Oldman's character Coxy. As Mark's half-witted brother, Tim Roth really steals the show; he's so deep into his part, it's easy to forget he's acting. The character development in this story belongs mainly to Roth's character and though the movie seems to start out focusing equally on all involved, events gradually accumulate to have the greatest effect upon him. Interaction especially with Coxy and his brother stirs him to life and the consequences are both amusing and touching. Some viewers won't be happy with the ending--the change may not be profound enough for them--but the change is there and it's a sign of inward struggle, a slight pulsing signal of hope . Kudos also to Marion Bailey who plays the boys' mother. Her role is not a particularly sympathetic one, but in one striking scene when she plays hurt, your heart goes out to this woman anyway. You understand that beneath her surly exterior there's a woman needing affection from her sons. Often amusing and surprisingly touching despite its torpid atmosphere, this cunningly simple movie is most greatly enrichened by its characters, many of whom will stay with me for quite some time. (Footnote: As I watched Naked, I thought that Mike Leigh may be the only director qualified to make a film of Martin Amis's London Fields; Meantime confirms his qualifications for me.)
Rating:
Summary: Time Keeps On Slipping
Review: If you've any doubt of the difference between English and American cultures, watch this early Mike Leigh flick and then think about the fact that it was made for television. The writing in this dark little number is better than that of most of the movies released over here, let alone anything American-made you'll ever see on television. These are dark character sketches, and I too was reminded of Leigh's Naked as watched, though this movie doesn't share so much of Naked's explicit philosophizing. It does share similarly benighted characters, however, and a central character with the same shiftless way and easy ability to say whatever pops into his head. Phil Daniels portrays this character, Mark, the story's wise fool: he knows enough to understand his situation is a horrible one; he's quite adept at analyzing whatever goes on around him, and he's revolted by it; but he does little to extricate himself from the situation; his attitude reflects that of most in the film, expect perhaps for his aunt who is always somewhat futilely trying to adjust the status quo. Mark and his brother Colin and their father (who looks perfectly like an older Phil Daniels) are all on the dole, along with Gary Oldman's character Coxy. As Mark's half-witted brother, Tim Roth really steals the show; he's so deep into his part, it's easy to forget he's acting. The character development in this story belongs mainly to Roth's character and though the movie seems to start out focusing equally on all involved, events gradually accumulate to have the greatest effect upon him. Interaction especially with Coxy and his brother stirs him to life and the consequences are both amusing and touching. Some viewers won't be happy with the ending--the change may not be profound enough for them--but the change is there and it's a sign of inward struggle, a slight pulsing signal of hope . Kudos also to Marion Bailey who plays the boys' mother. Her role is not a particularly sympathetic one, but in one striking scene when she plays hurt, your heart goes out to this woman anyway. You understand that beneath her surly exterior there's a woman needing affection from her sons. Often amusing and surprisingly touching despite its torpid atmosphere, this cunningly simple movie is most greatly enrichened by its characters, many of whom will stay with me for quite some time. (Footnote: As I watched Naked, I thought that Mike Leigh may be the only director qualified to make a film of Martin Amis's London Fields; Meantime confirms his qualifications for me.)
Rating:
Summary: This should be a period piece - depressingly, it isn't.
Review: Portentousness, contrivances and misogyny aside, this is a modernist masterpiece, closer to Antonioni than Loach. Leigh doesn't simply record the monumental, faceless, soulless tenements and urban environment that dwarf his characters, as a social-realist would: he allows them to shape his narrative, a rigid, static series of concrete tableaux. Leigh doesn't reduce his characters to caricature, as he's often accused of - Thatcherism does, by removing all those things (hope, work, dreams etc.) that mark humanity and individuality. As bitterly angry and funny as 'Naked'.
Rating:
Summary: This should be a period piece - depressingly, it isn't.
Review: Portentousness, contrivances and misogyny aside, this is a modernist masterpiece, closer to Antonioni than Loach. Leigh doesn't simply record the monumental, faceless, soulless tenements and urban environment that dwarf his characters, as a social-realist would: he allows them to shape his narrative, a rigid, static series of concrete tableaux. Leigh doesn't reduce his characters to caricature, as he's often accused of - Thatcherism does, by removing all those things (hope, work, dreams etc.) that mark humanity and individuality. As bitterly angry and funny as 'Naked'.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this DVD.
Review: The sound [is bad]. Leigh's characters' dialect is hard enough to understand sometimes but on this DVD the dialogue is inaudible and much softer than the music itself, which blots it out most of the time. Frustrating -- because the movie is fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: Good limey flick
Review: This film is definately one to see if not for the story for the actors. Phil Daniels (Jimmy from Quadrophenia), Tim Roth (trevor from Made in Britain and numerous other more commercial releases), and Gary Oldman (Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy). A depressing look at British working class life in a council multi. Funny bits too.
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