Another Year - a Mike Leigh film

Last week I saw Black Swan.  Today I went to see No Strings Attached.  I guess I thought I’d ride the cultural wave and see another Natalie Portman movie, maybe blog a little about our culture’s view of sex, and take in a little lighter entertainment than Black Swan.  But, after 15 minutes of No Strings Attached I couldn’t stomach it anymore and decided I needed a little more brain food for my precious few hours alone escaping house chores.  There is plenty to digest and talk about in regards to Black Swan, but this post is not about Black Swan.  I’m sure most of you have already seen it or at least had a passing conversation about it, so since I still have your attention I thought I’d leave you with a few thoughts about another movie you might not have noticed.  

After slipping out of No Strings Attached, I popped in another film, across the concession stand in Evanston’s Art Cinema, called Another Year.  Sometimes art is powerful but not necessarily comforting, entertaining, or relaxing to watch.  Good art is not just a mere copying of reality but is an interpretation of reality that makes the viewer see, feel, or understand something about creation in a new or deeper way.  Such is the case with Another Year, a film by Mike Leigh (Oscar nominated director of Secrets & Lies 1997).  The movie moves at a very slow pace, taking time to develop characters that capture your attention and move you to care about their lives.  Like a painting that leaves a powerful emotion more than a plot, this movie crafts characters that leave a deeper understanding of human loneliness and our deep need to be needed.

The story centers around an aging couple, Tom & Gerri, who have a deeply content marriage sharing simple things such as their garden, their cooking, reading, their son, and being a place of refuge for their friends and family.  But the more poignant character is that of Mary, a profoundly lonely middle age woman who works with Gerri.  She desperately is seeking hope and connection and yet is so trapped in herself and her own loneliness that her life spirals inward into a frenetic and painful sadness.  

The acting in this movie is superb.  After taking an improv class last fall I have a greater appreciation for learning the skills of subtly communicating emotion while being aware of your fellow players.  Part of the genius of this movie is watching the actors respond to one another with a connection that is subtle yet so in tune to one another’s emotions.  As a warning, the film does move slowly.  You have to sink into it like a big soft sofa and just relax.  Don’t expect the grand drama of Black Swan, the rollicking plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  But if you hang with this movie you will be rewarded with rich characters that realistically reflect real human beings and the pain we all feel in our desire to connect with one another and have real community.  As the Boston Globe put it "there is a little bit of Mary in all of us" (read the Boston Globe's critique HERE ).  It will make you want to hug the people in your life and be thankful for them.  It will make you want to seek the grace to be a better friend, wife, husband, sister, son, or friend of the lonely.  And it might even make you want to plant a garden...