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| All
or Nothing
Directed By: Mike
Leigh Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket. Their daughter Rachel cleans in a home for elderly people, and their son Rory is unemployed and aggressive. The joy has gone out of Phil's and Penny's life, but when an unexpected tragedy occurs, they are brought together to rediscover their love. All or Nothing is set on a London working-class housing estate over a long weekend, and also tells the stories of a range of Phil and Penny's neighbors, some of whom become involved in the family's lives, and all of whom experience an emotional journey.[VIDEO - TRAILER] Check out Reviews, Commentary, and More at Zertinet.com |
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Occasionally
there are movies that absolutely blow me away. These movies usually
end up closing after a brief run at a small theatre. Before I even
had a chance to write this review after seeing this movie after it's
opening night here in Ithaca, I found out that the movie is going
to close in two days. This movie will not even enjoy a weeks run.
The movie was bumped from the schedule in order to make room for another
special movie on Friday. It only played one weekend day, to less than
stellar crowds. When I saw it, I was one of 5 people in the theatre. Why in gods name don't you people see movies like this? What's wrong with you. We're talking about a movie here that has made less than a quarter a million dollars (both here and in Britain) while My Big Fat Greek Wedding is sitting on a 212 million dollar jackpot. I apologize for the yelling at you. But please spare me the crying. I demand that you see this movie if you can. I don't care if you like it or not, but I refuse for this to be another year in which some of the best movies of the year make less money than my local grocery store does in a month. That said, this movie completely blew me away. All or Nothing is a movie about one family living in a subsidized housing in the slums of Britain. Phil is a self-employed taxi cab driver (no set hours, he rents a radio) who has become completely apathetic with life. He rarely goes to work on time and does little else than work and drink. His 'wife' (their not married because Phil "never asked me") works as a cashier at the local grocery store. Together they have two children. An overweight daughter who works as a janitor with an elderly man at a retirement home and an extremely obese son who watches TV and eats. Phil’s friend from the Taxi service lives in the same complex and drinks with him a lot. He is married to a psychotic alcoholic wife and has an attractive promiscuous daughter. Their other neighbors irons clothes for people within the complex, and lives with her bastard daughter. She is trying desperately, and not succeeding, to end the cycle of single mothers. I'll admit, after reading my own summary this could easily be an Adam Sandler comedy. That's one way that people deal with this kind of situation. The other is to offer easy solutions and turn the movie into a political piece. However, Leigh here has chosen instead to actually try and show the audience what life is like for these people. Life isn't a game; it's about getting by -- trying to make things work day after day. This isn't as much a statement about money as it is emotion. Like In the Bedroom, this movie doesn’t focus on the less important material problems these people face, but the emotional problems that these people are presented with. However, while In the Bedroom focused on a group of well-educated individuals, these people are not. Yet the surprising thing is that these people deal with things the same way. There are so many scenes in this movie where people spend time on camera not talking. Where the sound of passing cars or the incoherent babble on TV is the only noise. Perhaps the reason people don't like this movie is that the story is never spelled out for them. There is no convenient voice over telling you what's important and what to think. The characters don't make their intentions clear all the time, and the line between good and bad doesn't really exist. The story is told by the vacant expressions in their voices, a father's mid afternoon trip to a field by the beach, a struggling daughters look as she has sex with her neighbors boyfriend, the camera that sits in one place for 10 minutes and never moves, the lines of dialogue where abortion is talked about like isn't no harder a decision than what to eat for dinner, and the musical score that echoes the movie. Yet even in all its predictability the movie never fails to exceed predictability. The ending seems to at the same time say that it's easy to escape from this life as well as that you cannot escape from the doldrums. It’s all gotten across from one line of dialogue and a clichéd, yet still real slow panning out shot. I must also commend the acting. These actors obviously never got training in classical techniques. They play real people. They also amazing enough manage to play the duality of people who are both beautiful and whorish, smart yet completely brain dead, compassionate and completely uncaring. Here is a case where everything came together. It's a wonderful story put in the hands of an excellent director with a vision. The acting, the set, the lighting, the costumes and the music all came together to spin their story. 
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