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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 14, 2002
Another pint of bitter
All or Nothing (R) (128 min.) -- Mike Leigh, the most depressing filmmaker alive, returns to the scene of his grime with All or Nothing, another working-class British household drama even bleaker than Secrets & Lies and Life is Sweet. Leigh's films are an acquired taste, mostly bitter, focusing on the worst sides of human nature in the dreariest settings possible. Take away the accents that make the dialogue nearly indecipherable and All or Nothing would simply be a very special edition of Jerry Springer's show.
Meet taxi driver Phil (Timothy Spall, right), head of the Bassett family with his patiently bored wife, Penny (Lesley Manville, left); dumpy daughter Rachel (Alison Garland), and obese, hot-headed son Rory (James Corden). Behind other doors at the housing project they live in are Penny's friends Carol (Marion Bailey), stuck with a drunken husband of her own, and Maureen (Ruth Sheen), whose oversexed daughter (Helen Coker) is constantly abused by her boyfriend. If you see anyone having fun, don't worry. That feeling will be blunted by another base instinct or hasty closure before long.
Leigh's talent for drawing gritty, naturalistic performances from actors is undiminished. All or Nothing is filled with the kind of brutally honest moments that are matched only by documentaries. You want to shake these people out of their stupors and delusions, a sign that Leigh's incessant depression is doing its job. Somewhere amid the profane behaviors are reverse-psychology lessons in family bonding, such as Phil pathetically poking through his family's pocketbooks for spare change to compensate for cab fares he drank away. You can feel the love in every F-word.
The filmmaker also frames his bleakness in admirable fashion, setting the mood with a static camera in all the right positions. A cello-and-violin musical score sounds appropriately dirgelike. All or Nothing has a raw edge that can be exciting if a viewer is in the proper frame of mind, one like those antidepressant commercials on TV ask if you've been suffering. B-
-- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
The Man From Elysian Fields (R) (106 min.) -- Two of the best supporting performances of the year are on display in George Hickenlooper's sleekly odd drama, one of them from an unexpected source. James Coburn has his Oscar for Affliction, so he's no surprise, but who would expect that Mick Jagger could pull off such a debonair triumph as Luther Fox, the head of a high-class escort service?
"This business that you're in, doesn't it make you ashamed?" someone asks Luther. "No," he says dryly. "Poverty does that."
Jagger makes a big impression in a minor role that affects several lives in major ways when he hires another gigolo. Andy Garcia is in fine form as new employee Byron Tiller, a failed author needing to support his family even if he ignores it to do it. One of his clients, Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), is married to Tobias (Coburn), a dying Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Byron sees an opportunity to help the old man finish his last book, perhaps saving Byron's career and eliminating his need to work for Luther.
Working from Phillip Jayson Lasker's literate script, Hickenlooper uses seductive lighting and camera moves to suggest Byron's descent and lukewarm redemption. Everything in The Man From Elysian Fields is stylish almost to a fault, from Luther's high-toned pitches to the Alcotts' luxurious home. But the temptations and dangerous ambitions are recognizable to any class. Hickenlooper made the 1994 short film that expanded into Sling Blade, and he finally found a full-length project that suits his skills.
The film's occasional soap opera tones are muted by a terrific cast. Coburn's lionhearted wisdom is a moving counterpoint to Jagger's snaky charm in a struggle for Byron's conscience. Julianna Margulies turns the wronged-woman role as Byron's wife into a brittle portrait of disappointed love. Anjelica Huston has a brilliant cameo as Luther's favorite client. Lasker gives everyone juicy lines to emote. One favorite is Tobias' caution to Byron: "Be careful with women who love you just the way you are. It's a sure sign they settle too easily." Moments like that, and the way they resound later, make The Man From Elysian Fields worth checking out. B+
-- S.P.