ALL OR NOTHING
"The members of the struggling family at the center of 'All or Nothing'
are awkward, miserable and sometimes ridiculous, but they are neither
puffed up by sentimentality nor diminished by mockery. They are life-size
and almost unbearably human...Mr. Leigh is not the kind of realist
who views his characters as representative of anything but themselves.
He probes unsparingly into their awfulness, hoping they will surprise
him with their decency, and when it matters most, they oblige him...Their
climactic confrontation, in which years of bitterness and dashed expectations
pour out, is one of the most moving scenes I've seen in a movie this
year" -- A.O. Scott, The New York
Times
"Although the pay-off for this grueling trudge through the miserable
lives of Britain's working poor is slightly less than that of his
astounding Palme d'Or-winner 'Secrets & Lies,' Leigh's uncanny ability
to mine emotional truth packs the usual punch. And the trademark flashes
of humor sprinkled throughout ease the bleakness of the landscape...it's
easy to succumb to the rhythms of this melancholic but humanistic
rumination on the meaning of life." -- Megan
Turner, The New York Post
"Leigh uses a somber cello-rich score to infuse this quotidian suffering
with a mystical edge and high-culture gloss--and yet, thanks to the
generally enthusiastic performing, the movie borders on farce...The
ensemble is as compact in its way as the cast of a sitcom--and no
less inclined to squabble and whine...'All or Nothing' can be rough
going--even a bit grueling--building up through a medical crisis to
the big scene between Spall and Manville...Though more cathartic than
redemptive, this sob-racked confession is the payoff for two hours
of low-grade misery." -- J.
Hoberman, The Village Voice
"Mike Leigh is often described as a curmudgeonly observer of life's
most disheartening sides...But there's also a humane streak running
through his work, revealing deep compassion for ordinary people bludgeoned
by injustices of class, gender, and economics
...Leigh is one of the rare directors who feels acting is the heart
and soul of cinema. He allows his cast members to make creative contributions
to the story and dialogue. This method almost never fails him, and
it works superbly here." -- David
Sterritt, The Christian Science Monitor
"'All or Nothing,' arguably the bleakest film of his career, is a
tough go, but Leigh's depth and rigor, and his skill at inspiring
accomplished portrayals that are all the more impressive for their
lack of showiness, offsets to a notable degree the film's often-mined
and despairing milieu...Leigh piles up woe wider and higher than ever
before. That he has done so with his usual skill, perception and alertness
to relieving gestures of human tenderness and care does not keep 'All
or Nothing' from being a pretty glum, overly familiar business." --
Kevin Thomas, The Los Angeles
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