Mike Leigh for the First Time

Andrzej Pitrus

Abstract

Review of Artur Piskorz’s book Kino organiczne Mike’a Leigh [Mike Leigh’s Organic Cinema] (2016). As Pitrus emphasizes, Piskorz’s publication is the first work on the Polish market devoted to the achievements of this British director. However, this is not a complete monograph on the director, because Piskorz captures the achievements of the protagonist of his work only in a certain aspect, in order to narrow down the perspective and make the vol­ume easier to read, but also probably striving to define the adopted research perspective. Pitrus points out that Artur Piskorz is not only a culture studies specialist looking at the cinema, but also an English philologist interested in the culture of Great Britain, including its language, which is also reflected in this publication. The reviewer discusses the construction of the book and its most important methodological assumptions, indicates its stronger points, but also some shortcomings, and in the end allows himself to suggest that one should question the author of Organic Cinema strategy and demand that he takes into account other interpretative perspectives, although his publication cannot be denied consistency.