Easily one of Mike Leigh's best ever films, Another Year is a downbeat but extremely well-acted drama about a happily married couple, Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), and their various friends and family members who just don't seem to be able to be happy with their lives. Leigh's film is a trenchant examination of middle-class woes, driven by an array of excellent performances, the best of which is unquestionably Leslie Manville's as the couple's depressed, single friend Mary. It's a disgrace that Manville didn't even receive a nomination for Best Actress at the Oscars (let alone win the gong outright), but her character's seemingly unending, desperate sadness is the lynchpin that drives Leigh's film home. If you're looking for something as effervescent as Leigh's previous film, Happy-Go-Lucky, this is not the film for you. Stick through the sadness and it reveals an immaculate character study.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
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