Bleak Moments

Netflix has most of Mike Leigh's earlier films, including his early BBC films, available for on-demand streaming, so I thought I'd check out his debut feature, being a fan.

The absence of artifice in Leigh's films is always very refreshing. You never get the Hollywood "sheen" on the story. Even when he uses Names, the performances never seem like performances, but rather a scene you would most likely walk in on if you opened the front door of any house at random.

That lack of artifice is particularly glaring in Bleak Moments and one can't help but wonder if this was part of what Leigh was trying to get across: the conversations appear to be shot in first-take improvisational style and if things happen, they do, and if they don't, they don't. He isn't going to force an unnatural performance and you shouldn't expect one, either.

There's a lot going on in these pregnant pauses, however, and many shadings of self-consciousness to sift through before you glimpse the tortured soul behind each character. It is a subtle and classy trick, as other have pointed out, that the least self-conscious and therefore joyous character is developmentally-disabled Hilda.

Occasionally Leigh will show-off a bit, and to good effect, particularly in the fast cut group of headshots prior to Sylvia and Peter's date, but for the most part he plays it cool and just lets us bask in the glow of some great, naturalistic acting.