A Running Jump

Mike Leigh looks to capture the sport of everyday life and aims for the final-act frenzy of a 'Life is Sweet' in his colourful portrait of a chaotic East End family (Eddie Marsan is a car-dealer, Sam Kelly his cabbie dad), in which folk are constantly jogging in the background. The director has described the film, one of four shorts commissioned for the London 2012 Festival, as 'a bunch of gags'. And gags are what you get - including a punchline that involves the first ever helicopter shot in a Mike Leigh film. (It's also the first of his films shot entirely on digital film.) The result is fun and hyperactive.