All or Nothing

Phil (Timothy Spall) is an overweight taxi driver who gets up late in the day and works intermittently, barely communicating with his family except for a few grunts. His philosophy of life is expressed as "We're all born alone. We die alone. There's nothing we can do about it". Mike Leigh has given us powerful portrayals of the underclass in his previous films Naked, Secrets and Lies, and Life is Sweet but none more powerful and moving than his latest, All or Nothing.

In this film, Leigh looks at three families living in a dreary South London housing complex and captures their lives with an intimacy that is almost unbearable. All or Nothing has a documentary feel, almost as if the camera was just planted in the middle of the living room to observe. The conditions are familiar: unemployment and underemployment, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, isolation, and the inevitable loss of self-esteem and despair. It is, however, more than a drama of oppressive social conditions, but also of lack of communication between people who desperately need love but are too afraid or lethargic to ask for it.

Spall's performance is a revelation. His unshaven face, disheveled hair, and hangdog expression communicate deep resignation. The film is bleak but Leigh mixes its heartbreak with joy. When a neighbor Maureen (Ruth Sheen) sings ''Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,'' at a karaoke bar, her eyes shine with a glow that seems at odds with the rest of her life but is so contagious that even her most dispirited friends take notice.

It is obvious, from the start that something is amiss. Phil says nothing when his obese son Rory (James Cordon) hurls words of abuse at his common-law wife Penny. Rory is an overweight bully who does nothing but lay around the house, watching TV and hurl insults at everyone in his path. Sister Rachel (Alison Garland) has a job cleaning up at a nursing home but also seems to be going through the motions of living except when she is interacting with patients. Penny works in a supermarket and does just about everything to keep the family going, but it never seems to be enough. The film's sub-plots add to the feeling of life reeling out of control, but none of these are fully developed and are just dropped without tying up the loose ends. Maureen's teenage daughter is pregnant by some lout that doesn't give two hoots about her. Another resident, unemployed Samantha (Sally Hawkins) hates her parents and finds herself seducing a very strange young man (Ben Crompton) lurking in the shadows of the complex grounds.

The second half of the film concentrates mainly on Phil and his family. When a medical emergency occurs, the family begins to open up and express long buried feelings of hurt and resentment. The final confrontation between Phil and Penny achieves an explosive power. Phil tells Penny that when he's had enough, he just switches off the meter on his taxi. Penny responds that she doesn't have the luxury of turning off a switch and making everything go away, that she is still responsible for the daily chores and the condition of the family. After Phil finally reveals his deepest fears, a transformation occurs that is unmistakably reflected in the family's facial expressions and body language.

Leigh does not offer simple solutions, but seems to be telling us that although life is painful, we can reach beyond the pain to get in touch with the beauty. He shows us that love is the glue that holds families together and that either there is love or there's nothing. As a result, All or Nothing pulsates with a humanity that, in spite of its bleakness, is life affirming and ultimately uplifting, reminding us that beyond bitterness, there is love, and beyond suffering, there is grace.

"All or nothing" was typical Mike Leigh. The acting was superb and the characters were realistic. His movies are more like a documentary than a screenplay. I become involved with the characters and I continue to think about them and their lives for a long time afterwards. The characters in this movie led bleak, sad lives. The small amount of happiness at the end of the movie isn't enough to overcome the bleakness of the story. I can't see how these people in the surroundings they live in and associating with the types of people portrayed in the movie could work their way out of their plight. Rory and Rachel are doomed to live in this bleak place. See, I get all involved with these characters. I think they are real. That is the power of Mike Leigh's films. This is a sad movie, an affecting movie. Ruth Sheen was the one bright spot, plus she has a lovely voice.

The previous reviewers describe the story's chemistry adequately. But why all or nothing?

Contrary to the other comments I did not find the protrayal dreary or depressing. To do so seems to me to show a lack of awareness of the people who live and work near us or for us; who breathe the same air we do.

These people don't live in a slum or a housing development. They live in their homes. They do not portray, as in too many other movies, special effects empty violence or emotionless skin sex scenes. They beg us to consider and respect the lives they really live and their search for the fuel to continue tomorrow. They don't need everything; they don't need it all. They simple need enough to enable their emotional existence, that's all; otherwise they have nothing.

"All or Nothing" finally arrived in Honolulu where there are people with dialects different from London and yet have the very same vacancies in their lives.

I vote to clone Director Mike Leigh!!

Mike Leigh makes this movie as a sociological study because he wants us to be confronted with the state of mind of the working class of now. There is more poverty in the slums nowadays than say twenty years ago! Family-life is disrupted and children have many problems: overweight, sexual harassment, abortion (?). How will the rent be paid? And the loan of the taxi? What is going on in the mind of our son who does only look television and eat until he becomes fat? Why is my woman unhappy, do we still talk to each other? We are proud of our daughter who is a nurse for elderly people, but what is happening with our son? Even the dialogues in the taxi are splendid!

I have just returned from a special advance showing of "All Or Nothing" at my local UGC and I must say, this film exceeded my expectations enormously.

The film is about the lives of one family in a council estate and how each member interacts with the community. The Father, Phil Bassett (Timothy Spall) works as a Taxi driver while his wife Penny (Lesley Manville) is a checkout operator at a local supermarket. They are unmarried but have two children Rachel and Rory, the former being an angst-ridden, overweight layabout who is key to the film.

Acting is superb. It is that simple. All but one performance is utterly convincing, especially Timothy Spall with his constant bemused grimace which sets the mood of both his character and the film. The one exception is Donna played by Helen Coker. Her role is played up too much and seems rather forced. Now if by any chance you're reading Helen, please don't be disheartened; I merely saw you as the "least best" of an excellent bunch and I have to criticise something!

The script is authentic, witty and full of emotion while not being repetitive (barring the word "alright"!).

"All Or Nothing" is one of the greatest portrayals of what it is REALLY like to be part of a down-on-your-luck working class family. I even believe the film ended too soon; there were a few ideas that could have been developed further. I mention this not as a criticism but as a tribute to Mike Leigh who actually made we wish this 2hr 28 minute film would go on!

Fantastic! Eight out of ten!!!