a distant companion of the rash of late 90 realist urban film set in london estate and along with the like of wonderland and nil by mouth and intimacy . mike leigh film start and roughly speak and from a position of tense and impecunious stability and simply slide through the misery gear . it a very difficult and unrelentingly bleak film to watch with no humour ( black or otherwise ) to leaven the experience . i suspect that the development leigh have in mind for phil family be that they learn to value one another through the event of the film . the issue i have be that they seem unhappily resign to a situation of mutual and coexistent alienation in the first place . unlike leigh other film and the drama be externally apply rather than come from one or other of the protagonist . the acting be of a high standard although the actor be and in this light and pawn rather than agent and i find the film consequently weak . negative .