Another Year
Mike Leigh. You either love him or hate him. I’ve rarely met someone who thinks he’s just all right. Having never really watched a Mike Leigh film I approached ’Another Year'with an open mind. Tailing the lives of Tom and Jerry (that’s a deliberate joke) played by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen the film follows a year in their lives and all the people who dip in and out. You have their son Joe who’s in his early thirties and hasn’t got a girlfriend, and their friend Terry who lives in Hull, is overweight and utterly depressed at how his life has fallen away slowly over the years. Then there’s Mary played by Lesley Manville.
Mary dominates the seasons the film passes through in one way or another. Neurotic and slightly unhinged you are left wondering whether you’re supposed to feel sorry for her, cringe at her or laugh at her. From my viewpoint it was a combination of all three. Without giving too much detail away, ’Another Year’ trudges through the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter with aplomb using Tom and Jerry as the focal point to which all the characters connect to each other. All the actors play their parts with great skill and it’s heartening to see a film where nothing much happens on the surface, but the moment you delve a little deeper there’s a bustling hub of activity beneath each character’s face. Just watch Mary closely throughout the film. Her face says more then her words ever could. It is a true master class of acting from Manville; fascinating and cringeworthy to watch all in one.
Leigh seems to use his characters as test products across the spectrum of human emotion. It’s unreal and real at the same time. So what do I think of Mike Leigh? I must be the first to say, I think he’s all right based on this.
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