Another Year – Blu-Ray (Used)

Description

Director Mike Leigh’s gift for finding rich drama and humor in ordinary human lives remains as strong as ever inAnother Year. Plot is almost nonexistent: Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a happy and settled couple, both support and try to fend off the neediness of their less fortunate friends–particularly Mary (Lesley Manville), whose fantasies of romance with Tom and Gerri’s son Joe (Oliver Maltman) come crashing down when Joe brings home his new girlfriend Katie (Karina Fernandez). Leigh’s ability to draw astoundingly fully realized performances from his superb casts can turn a simple bit of anxious flirting into nerve-wracking comedy, or make the audience feel the cruel sting of a sudden disappointment. Manville (who’s appeared in previous Leigh movies, as has most of the cast) turns in a remarkably alive performance, making Mary’s yearning and fears almost uncomfortably vivid–but everyone in the cast is thoroughly natural, with the ever-dependable Broadbent (familiar fromMoulin RougeandHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Sheen anchoring the film with a quiet, confident affection.Another Yearis a gentle addition to Leigh’s oeuvre; it doesn’t have the head-to-head conflict ofSecrets and Liesor the musical fervor ofTopsy-Turvy. This movie’s emotions are more rueful and reflective, pondering the nature of contentment. Much asHappy-Go-Luckyquestioned the essence of cheerfulness,Another Yearasks, What makes one person able to find love, while another flounders? Not a common topic for a movie, but Mike Leigh is not a common filmmaker.