Mike Leigh's name popped up in our suggestion box, and it wasn't the first time. We are certainly aware of the British director, but we're pretty sure we've never seen any of his movies. This despite Leigh winning multiple international awards and racking up Oscar nominations.

So, let's watch some Mike Leigh movies!

Leigh is known for "smaller" films and getting excellent performances from little-known actors (as well as his muse, Timothy Spall, probably better known as Peter Pettigrew for fans of Harry Potter). So we started with "Secrets & Lies", a family drama about a Black woman who finds out her birth mother is white. Then we moved on to "Happy-Go-Lucky", a movie about a woman who remains incredibly optimistic despite surrounding negativity.

They were good films with terrific performances and a distinct feel not often seen in modern cinema... But they just weren't our cup of tea. In fact, during the entire watch of "Happy-Go-Lucky", we couldn't stop thinking how annoying it would be to be around a constant optimist. (Does it beat a constant pessimist? Yes, but not by much.)

So let's just conclude that Leigh's family's original name was Leiberman and that they changed it for "obvious reasons". But that's it for us and Mike Leigh movies...