Notes on films

ANOTHER YEAR (Leigh, 2010) - I was feeling a bit down last Thursday, and decided to finally watch this one. I felt like just spending some time with some slightly messed up people, and that’s exactly what I got - in some cases minus the ‘slightly’. Lesley Manville’s hard to watch, at times, especially since I recognized some aspects of myself in her, and who knows, may still end up like her thirty years from now. For now, though, and hopefully until I’m old, I have someone on whose shoulder I can put my head at night, and that might just save me. I really loved the rapport between Sheen and Broadbent, and the lived in impression of a marriage they give. I especially loved that they aren’t perfect, either - you get the impression that they like that their friend are dysfunctional, because it allows them to feel superior. They need the contrast to feel good about themselves, and that seems very human. “Human” is probably the best word for most of Leigh’s films. Painfully human sometimes, warmly human at others, but always human.