If you ask me to sum up England as it was when I left way back under the reign of Maggie Thatcher then there's three films I'd tell you to check - Mike Leigh's "Naked," Derek Jarman's "The Last of England," and Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and his Lover" - of the three it's "Naked" that is the masterpiece that has stood the test of time and remains to this day one of my favorite films of all time. Lets get it straight - life under Thatcher was bleak and grim socially and economically. Class warfare was at an all time high. It sucked.
David Thewlis' Johnny summed up the affect of alienation that Thatcherism 'caused for many. His bitterness and self destruction seemingly the only route available to him. I felt much the same at the time.
Looking back now Lesley Sharp's Northern accent and realness of character makes me pine for the Northern girls of youth. That soft lilt in her voice and obvious straight forwardness is charming in a way few American girls are. And most of all the film reminds me of living in Chalk Farm going to acting school (much of the film was shot in North London near where I lived). Mike Leigh even came by our school one day. I remember how much he looked like my favorite teacher from comprehensive school, hunched over and very leftie looking - the total birkenstock wearing type. But you could see he was totally curious, studying everyone with quick glances and hard looks.
Here's a very insightful recent interview with Mike Leigh were he discusses "Naked" and the months of improvisation he went through with David Thewlis and the cast. Leigh rightly notes - "I think David's tragedy, is that he hasn't found a role to match Johnny since." The same sadly could be said of Leigh - though his fame has risen drastically since "Naked" I don't think he's ever reached the heights of he achieved with this special film.
The new Leigh film "Happy Go Lucky" is opening Stateside soon at the New York Film Festival (but its already on DVD in the UK) - it's meant to be his light 'pure' comedy - sadly it's not that funny because the main actress just isn't strong enough to carry a whole film and in the end it is no where near as good as "Naked." The best character is the racist driving instructor (who is also the only bitter character in the film). Maybe Leigh just does bitter better than he does happiness? That is after all a very English trait.
Leigh would do well in these troubled times to revisit the vibe of "Naked" and make a film that like it reflects our times with uncanny skill and pure grit. British film makers have always been able to capture the life of ordinary people far better than anyone else and with the UK currently going through almost as much inner turmoil (racism, economic collapse, failing social structures) as we here in the US are experiencing it would be great to see a master like Leigh cut through the BS and show us some truth of the people. One hopes the runaway success of "Vera Drake" won't mean that Leigh can no longer make films about our times. "Happy Go Lucky" just isn't saying enough about them.
Here's a picture of Mike Leigh shot at the main "Naked" location, followed by the official trailer (not that good) and a scene from the film
The Faber & Faber book of interviews "Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh" is released this month Stateside.
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