The Time of Our Lives

The film opens on a birthday party of one of a large family from the East End of London. The children and the grandchildren of this extended family have travelled across a rapidly changing British landscape to join the celebration. A celebration during which family members reveal their hopes and dreams for their respective children. Michael Grigsby interweaves the past and the present with key scenes from different members of the family in a film deeply rooted in contemporary Britain. Radio, a dominant feature in the homes of the 1940’s and 50’s helps build up a rich sound track and gives the film a popular evocative base and a strong contemporary images and snapshots of the family’s daily lives in urban Britain in 1993: a collage of dreams, memories and contemporary life.