Another Year

Dir. Mike Leigh
Starring. Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville

Another Year is a film about old people...hanging out with other old people...doing whatever it is that old people do, which I assume involves complaining about the postal service and blowing their nose into the same crusty bit of tissue over and over again and then sticking it back in their pocket. Or at least this is what I gathered from the first few minutes of the trailer I watched before getting bored and going back to watching youtube clips of puppies making cute noises.

Fortunately the film is nothing like my prejudgment, and when I finally managed to pull my head out of my own arse long enough to sit down and watch it, I was incredibly entertained. Another Year is so poignant and funny, its not just relevant to people on nursing home waiting lists.

The main characters are married couple Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) and Another Year is just as advertised; a year spent with them. We follow the ups and downs of their lives as they love, laugh, work, entertain, comfort old friends and family, and gently prod their son to start his own family. It is truly a simple story of those lucky enough to have family, love, and companionship, and their relationships with those dealing with death, loneliness, disappointment, and regret.

The characters carry the film, and we would expect nothing less from director Mike Leigh. They are so three dimensional you will feel certain you know them in real life, or at least someone exactly like them. And because of this, its hard not to fall instantly in love with them.

Lesley Manville steals the show with her brilliant portrayal of Mary, Gerri's childless and husbandless work friend who desperately tries to stay positive in spite of her loneliness. She is altogether hilarious and tragic as she brings to life the sheer panic many women feel as they grow older and find themselves without a family to call their own.

Leigh's tender and genuine understanding of human relationships gives the film heart, humor, and hope. If you can bare to shut your laptop, silence your iphone, take out your ear phones and not send a single tweet for 130 minutes, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy this film. It does require your attention and care to really get into it...but...if...you....just....sorry, I think I hear my phone ringing...