Meantime is the portrait of a London family who share a cramped East End apartment and little else. A standout among an excellent cast is Tim Roth as the simple-minded son Colin, who has gone into his father's line of work--the dole line--and spends aimless hours with his skinhead friend Coxy, while his mother spends her days playing bingo and his cynical older brother Mark manages to beat him at every turn in an already miserable life. When Colin falls under the influence of a well-meaning aunt, the film shifts gears. "A beautiful, daring film...pulling order and feeling out of what appears to be a welter of kitchen-sink naturalism.... Leigh amazingly turns (it) into a parable of redemption moving in the most unexpected ways" (L.A. Reader).