Mike Leigh

"Leigh at his best is an acute, incisive observer of working- and lower-middle-class behaviour and mores... Meantime, Naked (his most irascibly honest, revealing and cinematically sophisticated film) and much of the admittedly very affecting Secrets and Lies succeed gloriously as perceptive, witty, warts-and-all studies of a particular way of London life." - Geoff Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999)
Mike Leigh
Director / Screenwriter
(1943- ) Born February 20, Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Top 250 Directors

Key Production Countries: UK, France
Key Genres: Drama, Comedy, Comedy Drama, Ensemble Film, Family Drama, Satire, Domestic Comedy, Urban Drama, Psychological Drama, Social Problem Film, Period Film, Slice of Life
Key Collaborators: Dick Pope (Cinematographer), Simon Channing-Williams (Producer), Lesley Manville (Leading Character Actress), Jon Gregory (Editor), Philip Davis (Leading Character Actor), Alison Steadman (Leading Character Actress), Andrew Dickson (Composer), Ruth Sheen (Character Actress), Timothy Spall (Leading Actor), Marion Bailey (Leading Character Actress), Jim Broadbent (Leading Character Actor), Eve Stewart (Production Designer)

"Rather than pontificating on the ideological implications of the average worker’s plight, Leigh’s films dramatize the efficacy of socialism through stories of communities learning to support each other (or of the tragedy of individuals cast adrift). Leigh’s working method also emphasizes group effort; he develops scripts with his cast in an improvisational atmosphere before setting the dialogue down in stone (a technique that also helps the sense of realism)… Leigh’s use of family dynamics makes it easy for most viewers to sympathize with the characters, even when they display unlikable qualities. Combining such dynamics with moments of laughter and tears, Leigh’s films use emotion rather than rhetoric to portray the lives of the working class." - Sean Griffin (Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, 2007)
"He made his cinema debut with Bleak Moments (1971) and went on to create a body of work noted for its truthful and compassionate dramatization of everyday lives and universal concerns." - Chambers Film Factfinder, 2006
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Naked (1993)
"One of the most independent directors, Mike Leigh has developed individualistic working methods that produce hilarious and realistic critiques of mundane existences." - Ronald Bergan (Film - Eyewitness Companions, 2006)
"While remaining fiercely independent and staunchly left-wing in his attitudes, Leigh has built up a body of work that anatomizes Britain's class system and everyday family life. The best of them, Life is Sweet (1990), Secrets & Lies (1996), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), and his most abrasive film, Naked (1993), articulate a subversive critique of English life that is often funny and often acutely painful. " - Philip Kemp (501 Movie Directors, 2007)
"Along with Ken Loach, he has been responsible for keeping the flame of socially relevant, realist cinema alive in Britain. For his many admirers, the gallery of exceptional performances, the humanity of his stories and the ongoing political commitment of his cinema have made him a treasured figure. His detractors point to a tendency to drift into caricature and suggest his use of humorous stereotyping as an indication of a patronising attitude. However, few would deny his importance in British cinema of the last twenty-five years." - Robert Shail (British Film Directors: A Critical Guide, 2007)
"More than any other post-war British filmmaker, Mike Leigh has nurtured Britain's hallowed tradition of television directors helming feature films of exceptional humour and insight... Leigh's improvisational method places characters and actors at the heart of the work. Descending from the revolution engendered by John Cassavetes, the nouvelle vague, public "happenings" and the Living Theatre, Leigh generates performances partly from the script but more significantly from the stuff of his actors' own experiences, instincts and intuitions." - Richard Armstrong (The Rough Guide to Film, 2007)
"Film-makers should remain true to their principles and never compromise, there is a real revival in the British film industry but there is a danger that we will become colonial servants of Hollywood. We need to maintain our own integrity." - Mike Leigh
Selected Filmography
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GF Greatest Films ranking ( Top 1000 ● Top 2500)
21C 21st Century ranking ( Top 1000)
T TSPDT R Jonathan Rosenbaum
Mike Leigh / Favourite Films
Barry Lyndon (1975) Stanley Kubrick, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) Cristi Puiu, The 400 Blows (1959) François Truffaut, The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) Pier Paolo Pasolini, Here is Your Life (1966) Jan Troell, How a Mosquito Operates (1912) Winsor McCay, Loves of a Blonde (1965) Milos Forman, Some Like it Hot (1959) Billy Wilder, Songs from the Second Floor (2000) Roy Andersson, Tokyo Story (1953) Yasujiro Ozu.
Source: Sight & Sound (2022)
Mike Leigh / Fan Club
Dan Sallitt, Anna Smith, Kelly Reichardt, Ben Reed, Michał Oleszczyk, Ray Carney, Wesley Morris, Leonard Maltin, Andrew Bujalski, Ari Aster, Benny Safdie, Marian Crisan.
Life is Sweet