I would like to suggest a name for the film High Hopes in Brazilian Portuguese because we do not have it yet. I researched the Internet and found this European name "Grandes Ambições" that is compatible with the idea of the author of the film. My Brazilian suggestion would be "Hiperesperançosos" a good name, it is short and covers the expectations and anecdotes of the rising working class.

I found this film embarrassing - no sophistication, absolutely no subtlety; it does not stand the test of time. The relationship between the two leads is OK - but the over-acting done by the sister, her husband and the people next door made me cringe. The supposed under-acting by the mother was nearly as bad - but I blame that on the director - spelling it out that he's not spelling it out for us. It is all so obvious - one is surprised it was made by an experienced director - it is like a classroom assignment from a group of 16 year olds. And all those fake working-class accents - I grew up in Essex and I lived in Bethnal Green for 10 years and I never heard anyone speak like that. The music is wonderful but far too loud and in your face. On the plus side, I loved the ending - maybe I'm sentimental after all.

I wish I could pin down the secret formula with which Mike Leigh concocts these wonderful bittersweet (sub)urban dramas. This is a political film, where Life Is Sweet might be said to be interpersonal and Naked philosophical. Philip Davis' Cyril, trapped in a vice of modernist gloom and political impotence doesn't want to give his charming, realist partner Shirley (the glorious Ruth Sheen) a baby. However he does feel obliged to try to look after his grizzled mother whose adventures with toffee-nosed neighbours and hideous nouveau-riche relatives change his aspect on the world over the course of the film.Edna Doré as Cyril's Mum is hilariously unchanging as a cliff-face in a hat. Where David Bamber and Lesley Manville as the improbably monikered Boothe-Braines are icky the Philip Jackson and the leopard-print sheathed, Abigail's-party accelerated Heather Tobias are unbearable but pitiable as Cyril's in-laws (it's a strange function of Leigh's films that the repellent characters often have a lifeline to the audience's sympathies). There's also a noticeably well-pitched soundtrack from Andrew Dickinson. 6/10

The paragraph describing this film said it was about a group of people who come together when Mum locks herself out. This is misleading as that is only a small part of the film , there is much more to it than that, I saw this film as part of a Mike Leigh feature on TV.I straight away recognised Philip Davis who also stared in Mike Leigh's 'Grown Ups' even though it was 20 years earlier that I had seen that. He looked very similar but his character, Cyril was much better tempered than Dick had been. Cyril and his partner Shirley are the only ones who seem to care about poor old Mum. They are also kind hearted enough to help out a stranger who was lost and confused. Her other daughter Valarie appears to care more about her dog and her own life. The toffee nosed couple next door would rather leave the poor old women standing out in the cold when she locks herself out and don't want anyone to get in the way of their life. This film lets us see that having money doesn't always mean happiness. Cyril and Shirley are much more contented than their richer neighbours and sister. They are also much less selfish. I would rather have them any day