The History Boys - one for Glaconman

[El Gordo]

I've seen a few Mike Leigh things, theatre and film, and that isn't quite what I meant by ensemble acting, though he certainly uses a more specialised flavour of it. He's into improvisation and getting a story to emerge from a group of people working closely together over a period of time. (It doesn't always work. I remember booking to see an improvised Mike Leigh play at the RSC back in the late 70s, but it being cancelled at the last minute because nothing of note had emerged from the cast!) But he's certainly had some great successes using this method -- Abigail's Party and Secrets and Lies. And Life is Sweet. What I meant was a more general definition -- the impression you get from a group of people that they have evidently worked together a lot, and who seem ultra-conscious of the team as a whole rather than individual personalities. It's not easy to define but you rarely see it in films, which is perhaps why you said it 'reeks of theatre'. A slightly unkind assessment, in my view. Neither theatre or film is real. It's all down to the viewer how far s/he is willing and able to suspend disbelief. For me, it was a total success in this respect.

The Kermode quote reminds me why I don't always like him and his prejudices. He often praises films for their 'cinematographic' qualities alone, and so perhaps by extension isn't keen on a film that displays 'theatrical' qualities. I have to say, I think that's a silly way of assessing a film. What difference would it have made if I'd seen it on the TV than at the cinema? As it happens I saw it on a pretty small screen at an Arts Centre cinema so I guess it was halfway between. I'm genuinely puzzled by that remark, so I can't have understood the point. It's a piece of filmic art, and whether it's seen at home as part of a continuum of other broadcast programmes, or as a one-off in an external venue, seems neither here nor there.

Anyway, I've always loved the theatre, so perhaps its theatrical quality, if it has one, made it an even more enjoyable experience for me.

I'll look forward to This Is England though the chances of it being shown at a mainstream cinema near me seem pretty remote.