MM39 - Trust the Process: Mike Leigh (Patreon)

In this week’s episode of Movie Mindset Will and Hesse dive into British filmmaker Mike Leigh and his rigorous and idiosyncratic process for making films, which involve intense collaboration with his cast to research, rehearse, improvise and ultimately create astonishingly authentic portraits of human life and behavior in all it’s joy and misery. In these two films we get a full showcase of what Leigh and his cast are capable of in these unforgettable depictions of the comedy and tragedy of human existence.

First, In Life Is Sweet (1990) we meet and spend time with an ordinary working class family. Patriarch Andy (Jim Broadbent) is affable and easy going, mother Wendy (Alison Steadman) is bubbly and full jokes, daughter Natalie (Claire Skinner) is droll and level-headed, while her twin Nicola (Jane Horrocks) is a boiling cauldron of dysfunction and negativity. 

Then in Naked, an intelligent and vicious young drifter, Johnny (David Thewlis), flees Manchester for London and visits an ex-girlfriend. From there he proceeds to berate and abuse nearly everyone he comes across in a haunting and hellish nocturnal odyssey into the Hades-like streets of London. Consider yourself warned, this one is almost unbearably bleak and could be considered a prophecy of the apocalypse.

For more on the subject, Will recently appeared on a podcast series dedicated to the films of Mike Leigh, from Ian Moran. Find Will's episode here:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/naked-with-will-menaker/id1801773021?i=1000710225808

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1B4pSnHIpFPCIHNrfeO9Fr 

Main feed: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/devised-and-directed