This probably impressed me less than any other film by Mike Leigh that I've seen. But I mean that more as a compliment to Leigh than as a criticism of the film because its quite good by any normal standards. There's an odd quality to its narrative structure. The film has two distinctive halves. The first deals with the collective life of a housing project in Kent and seems almost like a British-ization of Bela Tarr's "Satantengo." It's relentlessly bleak- miserable people screaming at each other in conversations that go nowhere- and at times comes close to self-parody. I don't think I've ever heard the phrases "F--- off!" "You make me sick!" and "Care for a cup of tea then?" so many times in one hour. Yet, it retains a grim power, if for no other reason than the moments of mesmerizing cinematography by Dick Pope- its Leigh's visually splashiest film since "Naked"- and the characteristically wonderful score by Andrew Dickson. The second half focuses much more conventionally on one family, and is, taken in and of itself, one of the most warm and sentimental works Leigh has produced. Timothy Spall gives another great performance as a genuinely philosophical, and lazy, man. His marriage is put to the test. You feel happy at the out-come, but not sure its in anyone in the family's best-interest.