Peterloo ★★★★
What I’ve come to expect of a new Mike Leigh film is, above all, the unexpected. His first feature, Bleak Moments (1971), of which there were quite a few in that contemporary study of urban, lower-middle class life, made him a potent force in British film. Think of Naked (1993) and Secrets & Lies (1996), unnerving studies of difficult relationships that almost re-defined realism. Then came Topsy-Turvy (1999), Leigh’s glorious version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s tribulations in preparing The Mikado. Yes, Leigh could do ‘period’, and he would go on to surprise further with Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), a rare study of irrepressible cheerfulness, and with another period piece, the biopic Mr Turner (2014).
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