Though beautifully made and acted, "Meantime" is definitely I minority-audience film. It concerns an East End family Husband, wife, two grown sons, Mark a cynic, and Colin, a bit simple-minded. The three men are all out of work, and they live a shabby, bored existence on welfare.

A sister married a successfui businessman and has escaped this environment. In scene after scene, Leigh and his wonderful actors bring tumour and pathos to the most banal everyday situations, though he doesn't so much tell a story as cover a series of loosely connected incidents; a fine example of contemporary British realism.