"You can't go around with a big sign saying don't fall in love with me, I'm married."
"Well, most people wear a ring."
British auteur Mike Leigh has a way of weaving complex layers into seemingly mundane conversations. Unlike most filmmakers who work from a fully fleshed out script, Leigh works hand-in-hand with his cast to build their characters beforehand and employs an improvisational style during filming. His movies never feel overly written or phony. The dialogue appears fairly ordinary on the surface, but Leigh has always been able to weave underlying complexities to his words. There are genuine and insightful emotions in his latest film, Another Year, which drops us into the lives of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a married couple who have been together for over 30 years. There is no straightforward narrative to Another Year. Events unfold in an episodic nature to coincide with the changing of the seasons, from a hopeful spring to a cold and bitter winter.
Tom and Gerri are the classic hippies who have aged into contented suburbanites. Tom works as a geologist while Gerri is a counselor at a medical center and sometimes she takes her work home with her. Their home becomes a way station for their damaged and disillusioned friends. The most prominent of which is Mary (Lesley Manville), a co-worker of Gerri's, who is a talkative ball of neediness. With a drink frequently in hand, Mary allows a never-ending stream of ramblings to flow from her mouth. It seems Mary fears the moment she becomes silent is the moment she is no longer the center of attention. But, behind her mask of perkiness lies a lifetime of pain and failed relationships. Growing more and more desperate, Mary starts flirting with Tom and Gerri's son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), who is half her age. It isn't that Mary is a cougar; just that she sees Joe as the only means to become a part of this family who has it all together.
Another friend who drops by is the overweight Ken (Peter Wight). After a boisterous dinner, Ken reminisces late into the night about his lot in life. He bemoans his dead end and how everything in life is now for "young people." Much like Mary, he attempts to drown his sorrow in a good, stiff drink. In fact, Ken has a thing for Mary, who wholeheartedly does not reciprocate those feelings proving that even at rock bottom, beggars can be choosers.
While performances are strong across the board, it is Lesley Manville who has garnered the lion's share of notices. There have been several notable performances in Leigh's past work such as Blenda Blethyn in Secrets & Lies, Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, and Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky. Manville's powerhouse portrayal of Mary turns a potentially unsympathetic, one-note caricature into a tragic figure. During the rare moments of silence, Mary can't help but hide the accumulated sorrow of her past as her eyes sink into a sullen state of despair.
Not as fatalistic as Naked or Vera Drake, Another Year is tonally close to the hopeful optimism of Happy Go Lucky. All the while the kitchen sink pessimism that has been one of Leigh's trademarks periodically knocks on the door.
Rating: *** (*****)
No comments:
Post a Comment