Life Is Sweet (1990) Laughs it up on the Criterion Collection
On May 28, 2013, the Criterion Collection released Life Is Sweet on Blu-ray. Mike Leigh directed the film starring Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, and Claire Skinner.
‘Life Is Sweet’ Criterion Synopsis
This invigorating film from Mike Leigh was his first international sensation. Melancholy and funny by turns, it is an intimate portrait of a working-class family in a suburb just north of London—an irrepressible mum and dad (Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent) and their night-and-day twins, a bookish good girl and a troubled, ill-tempered layabout (Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks). Leigh and his typically brilliant cast create, with extraordinary sensitivity and craft, a vivid, lived-in story of ordinary existence, in which even modest dreams—such as the father’s desire to open a food truck—carry enormous weight.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by director of photography Dick Pope, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- New audio commentary featuring director Mike Leigh
- Audio recording of a 1991 interview with Leigh at the National Film Theatre in London
- Five short films written and directed by Leigh for the proposed television series Five-Minute Films, with a new audio introduction by Leigh
- Plus: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic David Sterritt
New cover by Eric Skillman
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On May 28, 2013, the Criterion Collection released Life Is Sweet on Blu-ray. Mike Leigh directed the film starring Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, and Claire Skinner.