Programmed June 2020

Directed by Mike Leigh

The great prickly humanist of British cinema, Mike Leigh has forged a body of work unique in its concern for the struggles of ordinary people and the social fabric of working-class London. Famously born from a process of extensive improvisation with his powerhouse actors, Leigh’s films inhabit a register of tragicomic despair that, thanks to their unwavering compassion, never slips into miserabilism. From his early slice-of-life portraits of Thatcher-era Britain to his award-winning international triumphs to forays into the period drama and relatively lighthearted comedy, Leigh plumbs the darkest depths of the human condition without ever losing hope. Added on Sunday, 21 June 2020