Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Another Year » User review

Another Year

A 2010 film written and directed by Mike Leigh

Edit Topic

< read all 5 reviews

I'll take another and another after that

Jan 15, 2011

by BlackSheep
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

ANOTHER YEAR
Written and Directed by Mike Leigh
Starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville

Gerri: Change is hard, isn’t it?
Janet: Nothing changes.

Aging is one of those human experiences that, if we’re fortunate enough to get up there that is, is essentially universal in theory. In practice though, some of us age much more gracefully than others. Some of us age while our dreams come true around us, while others do so while watching each of their dreams fall victim to time. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to choose how well life works out for us, so when the years continue to pass, each one has the potential to reinforce what we do or don’t have in our lives. ANOTHER YEAR is British filmmaker, Mike Leigh’s, specific look at one of these years and, in its delightful and touching execution, it contemplates the cruel little imbalances life has to offer.

There is a lot of eating in ANOTHER YEAR and all the glasses at the table are quite distinctly either half empty of half full. The table itself belongs to Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a couple who have been together for more than 30 years, who are still just as adorable with each other today as the combination of their names suggests they should be. They are joined more often than not at their table by old friends like Mary (a heartbreaking Lesley Manville), who tells herself she is happy alone but drinks to forget she is actually alone whenever she can, and Ken (Peter Wright), who cannot fathom retiring because then he truly won’t have anything at all to do with his time. Sometimes their son, Joe (Oliver Maltman) stops by too. At 30, he hasn’t met anyone special yet and with such a great example of long lasting love to live up to, you know he knows he is missing out. The dinner conversation is never boring and, thanks to the incredible ensemble, always fascinating and enlightening.

Tom and Gerri garden together. ANOTHER YEAR follows their planting cycle from the planting itself to the period of growth, through the harvesting in the fall and finally the inevitable death in the winter. They have been planting in this garden for years, just as Leigh has been making movies for years. And if the relaxed, subtly aware tone of Leigh’s latest work tells me anything, it is that he too knows that all you can do is plant the seed and hope it grows to be strong, tall and surrounded by flowers.

Thanks for reading.
LUNCH rating is out of 10.

For more BLACK SHEEP REVIEWS,
just click the link below ...

blacksheepreviews.com

I'll take another and another after that

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

woopak_the_thrill January 15, 2011

Been really curious to see this one. I want to see it but it may require me driving further than I want to just to see a movie. Thanks, Josepph!

BlackSheep January 20, 2011

It may not be something you want to drive long distances for but it is a very special experience and one that should not be missed.

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review

More Another Year reviews

review by ryguy4738. June 26, 2011

posted in Movie Hype

Another year; another Mike Leigh film that delights and touches the heart.

**** out of **** Assuming that every movie critic is a living, breathing human being; it's very hard to believe that anyone would NOT like "Another Year". It is a very human drama. We can all relate to it in some context. Whether we feel for the characters or not, it has an atmosphere that suits this "relatable" narrative. I came to appreciate the film the more I thought about it. I tried to absorb it the best I could, and I did so like an eager sponge. And I was eager all … more

Comments (1) Compliments (24)

review by Gonnawatchit. June 17, 2011

posted in Movie Hype

A Movie About Happy People...Almost Ruined by A Miserable One

Mike Leigh has always been known for making movies more about characters than stories, building his script around the improvisation of his actors as they learn who their characters really are. With his last two films, he seems to be trying something else as well; he wants to tell stories about happy people. I loved “Happy-Go-Lucky,” his last film, which starred Sally Harris as an eternally cheery schoolteacher who refuses to let the satanic ramblings of her driving instructor … more

Comments (1) Compliments (12)

review by Chris_Pandolfi. December 31, 2010

posted in Movie Hype

Seasons Change, Life Goes On

If “Another Year” comes off as unsatisfying, perhaps that’s a testament to director Mike Leigh’s affinity for depicting real life as it naturally unfolds. The movie doesn’t have much of a plot, but it does have a strong sense of character, believable dialogue, and a definite theme, namely that life simply goes on. It’s about ordinary people with ordinary problems; they may initially seem otherworldly, but they become more real as the film progresses, and by the … more

Comments (1) Compliments (12)

review by virharding. January 31, 2011

Another Year

"Another Year" opens with an incredibly depressed woman (Imelda Staunton, who starred in "Vera Drake") undergoing a doctor-mandated therapy session in order to obtain sleeping pills. This sets the tone for the rest of the film, in which several of the main characters are absolutely miserable. Gerri, the therapist, and her husband Tom, a geologist, are the happy ones. Now about sixty, they've been together since college. They garden together, they … more

Comment Compliment

see all Another Year reviews (5)

About the reviewer

Joseph Belanger (BlackSheep)
Ranked #24

Hello Lunchers. I am a thirty-something guy making his way in Toronto. I am a banker by day and a film critic the rest of the time. Sensitive, sharp and sarcastic are just a few words that start with … more