Movie Review: "Another Year"

Another Year

Directed by: Mike Leigh
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Mary Manville
Rated: PG-13 for some language

With simple-yet-brutal honesty, director Mike Leigh continues his repertoire of low-key relationship dramas with his film Another Year. The film stars the splendid Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen as a happily married couple in the twilight years of life who deal with the general unhappiness of the people around them, particularly their loud and difficult friend Mary, played by a fantastic Lesley Manville. What is striking about the subtlety of Leigh’s film, which follows the general events of one year in their lives, is how the thing that makes Gerri and Tom’s marriage and relationships work (their selfless ability to be good friends, even with those whom are difficult or hurting) is the main problem of those friends whom are struggling; their loneliness and desperation to find happiness causes them to be selfish, rude, and difficult to befriend, even for Tom and Gerri. Yet, despite their faults, we are led to feel the sympathy that Tom and Gerri have for them, knowing that no significant other (as shown by the opening scene) will ever fill one’s emptiness. To destroy one’s loneliness, one must be a friend rather than spend your life trying to find one.