Another Year (2010)

Mike Leigh films. There's something truly enigmatic about them. 
In an industry which is built on selling product, his films just sort of waft in and explore things you didn't really give much thought to before. There is literally no other country that would subsidise his sort of film-making. Even television would be wary because they almost defy being sold, they're dramas but nothing particularly salable
or taboo is happening; they're comic but not extraordinarily funny. They deal with romance but they're not romantic.
Under short-sighted scrutiny, they might seem unsuccessful endeavours but Mike Leigh gets to make movies based on the fact actors like working for him and extracts award winning performances out of them. But what is it that he does? How does he build these films?
It seems unlikely the way any other film-makers works; correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understand it, he gets a company of a actors and without a script,  they workshop characters and scenes in a warehouse presumably for a few weeks and this goes on and off until he's ready to make the film. Like I say, don't hold me to that description but even if it is close to that...  Well, it's not for me to say it's strange but it's not average. In a way, I get that it's good for the actors in terms of knowing the characters better than any other characters they're likely to play; creating their own bespoke role, as it were but I sometimes get the feeling that the stories or plots miss a central conceit; something to move towards.
The closest thing to that in Another Year, is the idea of getting old and struggling with life and carve out a bit of happiness. There are 3 main characters- Mary, a sad lonely middle-aged woman and Tom & Jerri, a completely happy functioning married couple; just one of those solid married couples that just fit perfectly,  that know when to be there for their spouse and when they need their space.
As one might expect, Lesley Manville, Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen excel in these parts respectively.


I watched Another Year (2010) on DVD, via LoveFilm.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Private Road (1970)...