An odd film, primarily looking at how the dole affects the underclass in Britain. Tim Roth stars as Colin, a slow and possibly intellectually disabled man living with his parents and brother in a housing project. He and his sarcastic manipulative brother still behave like teenagers, living with their parents, harassing each other.

According to the critic Michael Coveney, "The sapping, debilitating and demeaning state of unemployment, the futile sense of waste, has not been more poignantly, or poetically, expressed in any other film of the period." Now, I don't know about all that. I actually found the movie to be rather bland and not overly interesting. What makes it even worth viewing at all is the debut performance of Gary Oldman, as well as an early appearance by Tim Roth doing his "slow person" routine (a strange acting tic he does).

Along with Alan Clark and Ken Loach Mike Leigh was at the forefront of British social realist . Of these three directors I always found Clarke the most incisive of the trio and SCUM is still well regarded even by people who were born after the release of the cinema version in 1979 . Loach however became a parody of a professional socialist shouting on a soap box and his films became increasingly polemical masturbation fantasy involving the oppressed proles . Leigh is somewhat different from his two peers . While he doesn't stuff politics down the audiences throat he hasn't really made a film with the same impact as SCUM . That said I do remember seeing MEANTIME on Channel 4 in the 1980s , liking it and discussing with my peers . Over 30 years later it has an amazing cast of British actors before they well known Leigh has always had a reputation of spotting potential raw talent and of the cast Phil Daniels was by the far best known cast member of this production . Roth , Oldman , Molina and even Pam Ferris would have to be slightly patient before becoming well known thespians . Watching the talent here is no surprise that Oldman and Roth moved in to international stardom . Roth plays a retarded social outcast trying to find his way in life while Oldman plays a fascist National Front skinhead

The downside is that MEANTIME is a very mundane , low concept film where very little happens . In fact the only incident of note is Oldman's fascist sharing a lift with a big black guy . That said it is a window on the world of Thatcher's Britain where a haircut might cost as much as £1.20 and the hourly rate of pay in a dead end job was £1.70 . Most nostalgic of all was the drug of choice being Carlsberg Special Brew . Apart from that MEANTIME isn't nearly as good as I remembered it as

'Meantime' offers one of the most honest depictions of suffocating domesticity. This is a languidly paced slice-of-life film where Mike Leigh leaves no stone unturned to give us a raw representation of financial hopelessness and social disenchantment in Margaret Thatcher's England. The film mostly follows the members of the Pollocks, a working class London family who live in a state of perennial stagnation. Everyone is unemployed and the whole family has no option but to survive on the weekly dole provided by the government. The members of the family namely Frank, Mavia and the brothers Mark & Colin do very little apart from sitting on the sofas of their cramped apartment and watching television. Leigh takes his time to capture the disillusionment, the constant sense of internal humiliation and jealousy that exists in this household. Once we leave the apartment, Leigh introduces us to a few other characters like the idiosyncratic skinhead Coxy, the really shy neighbourhood girl Hayley(whom Colin crushes over) and of course the John & Barbara who are related to the Pollocks by way of Barbara being Mavia's sister.

Leigh enriches the film by giving each of the characters in the film their own unique traits and behavioral tendencies which only add to the raw grounded realism. There is a clear indication of clash between classes in the very opening scene where the viewer can feel the tension caused by the jealousy of Frank and Mavia for having to spend time in the suburban home of John and Barbara who at times inadvertently make Frank and Mavia conscious of the financial contrasts between the two families. There is also a scene involving Coxy and a black man in an elevator which is filled to the brim with racially charged tension. But in an overall sense Leigh is trying to convey that when society as a whole goes through a period of cultural decadence and economic stagnation, the class struggles and racial tension is a possible eventuality.

From a visual standpoint, Leigh makes the apartment rooms look as cramped up, restrictive and claustrophobic as possible. He extensively uses close-ups of characters' faces in pretty much every scene to capture reactions. The visual style is a deliberate attempt to complement and convey the sense of entrapment experienced by the characters. The acting as expected is very naturalistic. Tim Roth deserves special mention for expertly portraying the character of the 'slow' Colin. He conveys a lot without words, with the help of his expressive eyes.

'Meantime' can seem a little too dour and depressing for some viewers. But just like the Italian neo-realist films of the 40s and 50s, this is a film that has one solitary intention which is to capture the essence and spirit of an ailing contemporary society with very little hope. It showcases the effects of the all- encompassing forces of poverty and cultural aimlessness. It's not cheery, but it isn't meant to be. It is what it is and I believe it achieves success in being what it is.