3. Meantime (1983)
Meantime is one of director Mike Leighs finest accomplishments in his lengthy and decorated filmography, and is one of his many films that focuses on the lives of ordinary British people, often stemming from underprivileged backgrounds. Set in Londons East End, Meantime details the lives of working-class folk toiling under the social landscape of the Thatcher era, enduring both financial and social hardships that show no signs of repair. The central focus is on a family of four living in a tower-block, which includes the acting talents of Pam Ferris (Matilda), Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs), and Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia). Pam Ferris is the mother, and is the only member of the family in work, her husband, played by Jeff Robert, being an embittered nihilist that spends most of his days stagnating on the couch in front of the television. Roth and Daniels are the offspring and are two polar opposites; Roths character, Colin, is shy and timorous, while his brother, Mark, is indignant and headstrong. Both are on the dole, spending most of their time loitering on their estate or sitting in the pub, socialising with Coxy, a racist, boisterous skinhead played by Gary Oldman. The characters represent the trappings of a disadvantaged youth, combined with an unwillingness or incapability to escape from their concrete jail. As the proceedings unfold, Colin is given the opportunity to take on some work offered by his aunt, Barbara (Marion Bayley), who resides in a comfortable suburb with her lofty husband John (Alfred Molina). Barbara and John are, on the surface, a picture of happiness and stability, but it soon becomes clear that their marriage has petered out into convenience. With a balance between poverty and the bourgeois, Leigh wonderfully illustrates that inertia and torpidity does not differentiate between class and can infect all people. By the end of the film, there is little resolution and the characters are seemingly destined to endure their hardships with the familiar, stiff upper lip attitude that typifies the British.