Another Year (8.5/10)

So rarely will I see a film crafted to such a perfection. Mike Leigh is one of the most talented men working today. He has a large following and his name instantly gets Oscar buzz when he starts filming. Many love his work but I on the other hand only like it. He's a great talent in my mind but his film's aren't my style. When I get older I feel like I'll have a better appreciation for it then.

"Another Year" follows one couple and their friends through out a year. They are all in a stage in their lives where they've settled down for the most part and the surprises are down to the minimum. They experience in these later years, melancholy, sudden romantic desire, fun, death and boredom. The couple is Tom and Gerri played fantastically by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen respectively. The cultivate a large garden and live well off in london. They're charming and wise people and while they come from a upperclass background, they seem like the average couple. They have a son Joe (Oliver Maltman) that shares much of the tale too. It is however Lesley Manville that plays their friend Mary who steals the show. She is a strange woman to say the least who seems to have the same problems all year round. She complains that her life isn't all it should have been and the audience (like the other characters) just listen to it as minor ranting. By the end though her character goes through such a transformation in the eyes of the viewer that are sympathies could not be higher. Mary is in a dark place and everyone treats her in such a childish way. The audience will be shocked by this change in feeling (I was). The ending shot of Mary and her painful stare as others laugh around her is haunting. The characters may have just gone through another year and while life hasn't changed, things are just getting harder to do the normal. Mike Leigh has done done fantastic work.

8.5/10
Recommendation: Dialogue junkies will like it. The most basic of conversations become fascinating here. It's slow but worth the watch.