6 reviews

As usual, monsieur Mike Leigh delivers a great film. It is not necessarily pleasant to see at times as some of the situations are so close to home somehow: a family funeral, embarrassing moments with friends (wether you are the one sleeping on the sofa or the one saying "f...!" seeing her...). I found it very British also. A "must see", as they say.

Lucile Deslignères 22 Jan 2011

Philip French’s Guardian review of this film is excellent and gets the point that other reviewers seem to have missed, i.e. that Tom and Geri are actually happy together living quietly in the midst of the increasingly materialist, lonely world that is modern Britain.

Rather than smug, I think Mike Leigh’s couple are a haven of calm and quiet acceptance and that’s why they attract the troubled characters who crowd in to be with them – Geri’s friend Mary, Tom’s friend Ken and Tom’s widowed brother (abused by his dreadful son). The scene with the middle-aged woman at the beginning of the film makes the point – sent to Geri for counselling by her GP because she suffers from chronic insomnia, she can’t see that her malady might have something to do with her bleak life. ‘Just give me something to make me sleep’, she demands. The modern answer is so often to look for the quick fix.

Tom and Geri certainly don’t confront their friends. However, their gentle acceptance of these misfits in their lives shows tolerance and willingness to just be there for them. For no friend can ever seriously be a counsellor, too, and people have to make their own decisions to change their lives. No amount of telling ever works.

The film revolves around the seasons at Tom and Geri’s allotment. Here we see the metaphor: life as grounded reality in the face of hopes, dreams and inevitable failures. Life is hard, sometimes tragic, and committing to a long term relationship is no easy task. However, there are some warm moments: the sense of enduring love we get from Tom and Geri’s relationship; their caring son and his light-hearted girlfriend and the sudden glimmer of light when Tom’s widowed brother refers to his music festival, pot smoking youth.

AnniP 1 Jan 2011

Another Year, a film certainly following the principles of the majority of Mike Leigh's oeuvre, chiefly concerns itself with the principles and consequences of living life in a bubble.

This bubble is made up of insular social and familial ties and is inhabited by the couple at the centre of the film, Tom and (the joke is quickly laughed at and then forgotten) Jerry.

Their marriage and life is held up to be happy, contented and rewarding. However, the presence of several other characters, not least, Mary, Jerry's once-beautiful, once-confident, lonely and heavy-drinking friend, suggests that this comes with some sort of cost attached.

Leigh's characters are always profoundly drawn and this film is not exception. Some scenes I found excruciating, precisely because they are so close to home. Tom and Jerry's friends are staring into the abyss, but the couple seem to be unable (or unwilling) to provide real support to them - the hint being that to do this would slightly alter or diminish their carefully constructed bubble - that which protects them from life's calamaties (some would say realities).

And it's a very very subtle yet no less ruthless method for keeping people in their place. The denouement certainly demonstrates this.

I certainly was convinced that Leigh's message is highly relevent for today's fragemented, increasingly urbanised and lonely world. Perhaps we should all start to pop a few bubbles and get out more.

Stewart Hardy 23 Nov 2010

Another masterpiece by Mike Leigh! Not only is this an accurate and painful portray of intellectual middle class, it shows clearly and sharply the loneliness of those happened to be, socially, at their mercy.

You will find reviews of complete opposite opinions of this film, and that's probably what makes Mike Leigh's films such gems - they are so detailed, so accurate, so familiar- that you have to find your own voice in interpreting them - you will not be spoon-fed a political agenda (see Ken Loach for that).

So, what is it that makes Tom, Gerri and their unbearable son so irritating? Firstly- they are all dreadfully boring and smug. Secondly, they seem unable to provide any comfort to any of the people who wonder into their life, attracted by the welcoming warmth of a family with an allotment. Is it ironic that Gerry is a counsellor? It is a joke that her son is working for citizens' advice, when these guys seems to be cold and detached from the suffering around them, and Gerri incapable of minimal empathy to a very disturbed, alcoholic friend?

There has been much criticism of Mary's character, as a caricature of single women, but in fact, I do not think Mary represents single women. If anything, she is a needy person (the type that is usually married with children) but she had a few unlucky turns and ended up a very broken person indeed.

Moreover, these bunch of misfits: Mary (Gerri's "friend"- single, alcoholic, aging, desperate and lonely), Ken (overweight, alcoholic, lonely) and Ronnie (Tom's brother- recently widowed, lonely and confused) are not fully explored characters- but rather their condition, ie- loneliness is studied with incredible details and touching honesty. That loneliness puts Tom and Gerri in an uncomfortable place - they have to face to the unhappy, painful sides of life - but is that something they are willing to do? for anyone? It doesn't look like it.

Great watch, fascinating, engrossing. Just for a joke, go and read Philip French review in the Guardian - I have the feeling he didn't get the film! (or maybe it's me who's not getting it ;)

Osnatita 21 Nov 2010

Unmitigatingly depressive with few redeeming moments, Mike Leigh delivers over two hours of closely observed agony - a dissection of English culture and society and all its defects. One thing is guaranteed - this will be the last Mike Leigh film that you will ever choose to watch.

Peter Williams 16 Nov 2010

Having seen previous films by Mike Leigh, I knew vaguely what to expect: realism, English humour, accents and Jim Broadbent, which collectively lead up to a climax where at least one very earthy (literally in this film – there is an allotment!) and believable character stares into a dark abyss, while somehow, inconceivably, managing not to make you want to throw yourself off Magdalen Bridge on the way home.

The film is realistic in a very disconcerting way. Afterwards, it felt really weird having a conversation with my friend, because Leigh had captured so well the way people talk to each other and presented it on a plate for us to laugh at, making me very aware of the potential ridiculousness of conversation when I tried to engage in one.

In typical Mike Leigh style the actors spent a long time constructing complete lives for their characters from birth to the point we meet them in the film, so there was something visibly complete about the people they portrayed. It made me relate to them and laugh at them – especially the embarrassing ones. Then there's Jim Broadbent, who somehow exhibits the whole of his character Tom's personality in the action of folding up a shirt. You wouldn't think that would be hilarious or even possible. But it was.

Broadbent's character Tom and his wife Jerry provide the structure of the story. Their happy marriage is the central feature, around which less happy friends and relations flutter. Among others, there's Mary, a middle aged single woman clinging on to the idea of her youth and clearly desperate for love. She is the least in control but, perhaps because of this, the most genuine character in the story. Everything shows on her face whether she wants it to or not, so it is impossible not to experience everything with her.

I had an emotional reaction to the story in general. Not crying all the way through – it wasn't that sort of film. But I cringed and shifted in my seat along with the characters on screen when Mary's inappropriate feelings and jealousies became obvious in the midst of a social gathering, and felt much calmer when the more on-top-of-it characters had control of the situation.

For a film that is essentially dealing with the themes of loneliness and where bad luck and randomness can lead you, it was a very entertaining evening with a surprising number of laughs. Some of them were nervous laughs, but still. Another Year is simultaneously fun and weirdly scary in a non-zombie way. I recommend it.

Emma Pearson 18 Oct 2010