Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

I would like to suggest a name for the film High Hopes in Brazilian Portuguese because we do not have it yet. I researched the Internet and found this European name "Grandes Ambições" that is compatible with the idea of the author of the film. My Brazilian suggestion would be "Hiperesperançosos" a good name, it is short and covers the expectations and anecdotes of the rising working class.

I love Mike Leigh movies. They are not to everyone's taste but there is something about the way he gets the actors interacting that i find fascinating. High Hopes though , is my least likable of his films.We see the same actors crop up in this as we do in most of his films. Ruth Sheen , Phillip Davis and Edna Dore are good but unusually , Leslie Manville is very poor as the posh totty.There is a lot of overacting in this film and that is not usual for a Mike Leigh film but it is one of his early efforts , so it's forgivable.I had high hopes for high Hopes but sadly it quite happened.

Mike Leigh is always good value at the low-budget end, appealing to lefties and loonies alike. It's interesting how this picture has dated in the 21 years since 1988. The main couple, hash-smoking drop-outs Cyril (Philip Davis) and Shirley (the charming Ruth Sheen) both have proper jobs they can live on, for example, instead of half-starving on three. They are glad-handed with strangers, something else that has been eroded. On the other hand, Cyril's elderly mum (Edna Doré) is depicted having little or no social services, which paradoxically would probably not apply today. There are no immigrants or brown faces in the picture, which now looks very strange. Given these changes, the picture takes a round swipe at the Yuppies of the 80s, who brashly moved into lower-class areas and gentrified them. The gulf between Mum's people and her neighbours (Lesley Manville & David Bamber) is deep and wide, and still prevails on the tight little island of Albion. It all comes out when Cyril's social-climbing sister's hysterical laughter turns into tears of misery, frustration and defeat: a fine filmic moment. Definitely worth a look for social comedy fans.

I wish I could pin down the secret formula with which Mike Leigh concocts these wonderful bittersweet (sub)urban dramas. This is a political film, where Life Is Sweet might be said to be interpersonal and Naked philosophical. Philip Davis' Cyril, trapped in a vice of modernist gloom and political impotence doesn't want to give his charming, realist partner Shirley (the glorious Ruth Sheen) a baby. However he does feel obliged to try to look after his grizzled mother whose adventures with toffee-nosed neighbours and hideous nouveau-riche relatives change his aspect on the world over the course of the film.Edna Doré as Cyril's Mum is hilariously unchanging as a cliff-face in a hat. Where David Bamber and Lesley Manville as the improbably monikered Boothe-Braines are icky the Philip Jackson and the leopard-print sheathed, Abigail's-party accelerated Heather Tobias are unbearable but pitiable as Cyril's in-laws (it's a strange function of Leigh's films that the repellent characters often have a lifeline to the audience's sympathies). There's also a noticeably well-pitched soundtrack from Andrew Dickinson. 6/10