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“..it ought to be seen by everyone ... it pierces you with the truth of everyday repression in a corner of life you might never have looked into by yourself.” Alexander Walker EVENING STANDARD
“But this reticence gives Mr. Leigh as director and a scriptwriter a dazzling and triumphant opportunity to explore those feelings, fears, hopes and silent sympathies which often form a more expressive side in human relations than anything said.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
“This seems to be the most remarkable début of a British director, working on an absurdly low budget and with unknown actors, that I have ever seen.” NEW STATESMAN
“If you go to see Bleak Moments, and I most strongly recommend you to do so, be prepared to expend a little patience for the first 10 minutes or so. This is Mike Leigh’s first film, and it shows that not only is he a natural film-maker but that he has no interest in compromising his intentions. … It’s a very remarkable debut.” George Melly THE OBSERVER
“The film is made in a style that can only be described as heightened realism. It frequently, and deliberately spills over into something very like parody. Thus its depressing view of the truth is lightened by laughter. The whole episode of the tongue-tied teacher is as hilarious as it is sad, with brilliant sequences first in a hostile and empty Chinese restaurant and then back at home where the sherry soaked girl finally asks him pointblank to drop his trousers… All that remains to be said is that this striking and entirely original first feature contains a performance of great depth from Anne Raitt as the girl, and that the whole cast, guided by Leigh, who both wrote and directed, strike few false notes throughout.” Derek Malcolm THE GUARDIAN
“But what is most impressive about it is that the writer-director, whose first film this is, seems to know exactly what he is about every minute of the time. We are embarrassed along with his characters, our nerves are sometimes jangled by the endless struggle to say anything at all, the oppressive slowness of everything, but we are never bored for a moment; there is always an electric tension to held us enthralled. And a lot of amusement, too. …The acting, by an entirely unknown cast, is beyond reproach, and it is a real delight to be able to welcome a new film by a talented new British film-maker which is absolutely unlike anything else.” John Russell Taylor THE TIMES
“Impossible to sum up the thing as a whole, except to say that it’s a Chekhovian study of these young people. The atmosphere of their lives is brilliantly conveyed, and the writing and acting, above all of the characters of Sylvia and Pat, is strikingly good.” PUNCH
“A new British talent to be heard from.” VARIETY
