Two Mikes Don't Make a Wright

In "A Sense of History," the segment directed by Mike Leigh, we follow a British aristocrat, the 23d Earl of Leete (played by an unrecognizable Jim Broadbent, who wrote the script) as he strolls his estate while describing, as though to a documentary film crew, the history of his family and his role in it. What begins as a mildly interesting discourse becomes riveting as the Earl's casual monologue reveals his shocking, twisted past. It's all played straight, in the style of a documentary. Broadbent's performance is brilliant. I would love to have a copy of this, but, as far as I can tell, it is available on neither video nor DVD.

Three short and unrelated films. The Steve Wright one is very funny and odd, I'd give it 8/10. Michael Moor's follow-up to Roger and Me is also excellent and gets 8/10. The Mike Leigh thing will probably appeal to fans of Mike Leigh, which I'm generally not. It's a strange, unlikeable portrait of odd, dangerous duke that I'd give 4/10.

I went to see this for the Steven Wright short, and was mildly amused ("clamshell?"), and found Moore's to be booooring. Mike Leigh's short about the duke, lord, or whatever he was, was absolutely wonderful. A great tight story that was very engrossing. I really wanted to know this guy's psyche, and it delivered. It was my first Leigh (har!) and I've seen as much of his other stuff as I can find. BRING IT TO DVD PLEASE!