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Critical opinion was divided on Mike Leigh's All or Nothing: some
considered it is his most self-assured work to date; others felt Leigh's gritty
kitchen-sink realism was becoming jaded and his characters becoming caricatures.
But there is no doubt that in this strikingly polemic slice of disaffected,
cross-generational working-class life, the narrative is given time to evolve.
More importantly, the characters are given the space to develop.
Dick Pope's cinematography imbues the subject matter with a certain scruffy
realism and authenticity, favouring cramped interiors. In the montage of cab
sequences, sense of space is restricted by the camera's static position. Inside
Penny and Phil's flat, shots framed by doors and windows heighten this
feeling of bleak claustrophobia.
Leigh's meditation on the impoverished human condition highlights the
struggles to survive of a cross-section of middle-aged working-class people:
Phil and Penny's financial hardships, Maureen's single-parenting, Carol's
retreat into alcoholism, Sid's obsession with Rachel. But the film's strength
lies in its portrayal of the loneliness, self-destructiveness and aimlessness of
its younger generation: Rory's abuse of his mother, Donna's pregnancy and
ill-treatment by her boyfriend, Samantha's refusal to get a job. Omnipresent
loner Sid, silently lurking on the estate's periphery, is the most devastating
character. The scene in which he pulls back his jacket, proudly revealing to
Samantha an 'S' carved into his skin in demonstration of his love for her,
encapsulates the frustrated desires and the desperate need for attention in all
of Leigh's teenagers.
It is testament to the director's articulate humanism and the talent of his
actors that the ending doesn't seem contrived, despite an arguably clichéd plot
development in which lines of communication between parents are reopened in the
wake of a son's crisis. The final scene shows Penny wearing make-up, a cleanly
shaven Phil and Rachel sitting around Rory's bed laughing. The camera finally
rests on Penny's face, showing relief, but also apprehension. If the light,
happy glow of the ending seems slightly glib, it is only because Leigh is now
expert at creating characters with futures and, more importantly, uncertain
ones.
Shalini Chanda
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