To watch a Mike Leigh film is to live in another person's shoes for a time. To experience a slice of human life and all it's myriad highs and hurdles. In the same way his film Happy Go Lucky thrust us into the seemingly perfect world of a perpetual optimist, we slip into the well worn slippers of a uniquely contented couple surrounded by a host of friends and family in a perpetual state of unrest.
The cleverly named Tom(Jim Broadbent) and Gerri(Ruth Sheen) are perfectly happy. A notch or two past middle age, they've settled into a comfortable life of gardening and enjoying each other's company. She works as a social worker of sorts, while he basically digs holes for a living. All is right in the world, with their only wish appearing to be that their son Mike finds a nice girl. If only everyone else in their lives could find the same sort of balance, instead Tom and Gerri are the calm center at the heart of a very depressing universe.
The focal point of their attention is Mary(Lesley Manville), a co-worker of Mary's and the very definition of "lonely". She's in a strange position: extremely young and energetic to the older men who only want to use her, but too old for younger men. Mary is a tragic figure, a selfish alcoholic worn down by years of disappointment, facing a future that doesn't appear to be any brighter. She crashes in and out of Tom and Gerri's life like the child they never knew they had. Her unrecognized kindred spirit is Tom's friend, Ken, another heavy drinker with an equally somber viewpoint on life. If he and Mary could get over their mutual angst, they could probably sit in a bar somewhere and trade battle scars.
Another Year is divided neatly into four chapters corresponding to the change in seasons, as friends and family come and go. Some live, some die, some see their situations improve for the better, such as the introduction of Mike's girlfriend. Some characters take drastic turns for the worse and see their demons take hold. And so the year goes on...
This is not a cheerful film. There are no easy answers or resolutions. In fact there are no resolutions at all, because that's not how life works. We get closure when we die, and the characters in Another Year are forced to live and deal with the reality of their situations. A poignant, darkly comedic story with a heavy message about living a life fulfilled, Another Year is buffeted by a wealth of amazing performances by some of Britain's greats. The stand-out is Manville, who has been receiving a ton of Oscar buzz of late, and now I see why. Mike Leigh has always had an expert hand in crafting well-rounded female characters, and his take on Mary is no different. Manville is so good, so raw, that when Mary's essentially gone for a fraction of the film you can't help but wonder what she's doing. Her performance is so dominating that it almost makes everyone else mundane by comparison.
Another Year is a nearly flawless film, a perfectly wrapped little story with real, believable characters and often troubling emotions. Ranks right up there as one of Leigh's best.
