Jim3k
02-06-2011, 02:47 AM
“Another Year” is an AA nominated film for best original screenplay and was written by Mike Leigh. I saw it today and came away wondering what the nomination was for. Are there so few original screenplays that this was a default choice?
No matter. This movie, at 2 hours and 9 minutes is woefully long and never gets anywhere. I suspect that, since it is a family saga type movie, it will appeal to women far more than men. I stepped out for 5-6 minutes to get something at the snack bar and when I came back, the same scene was continuing; I hadn’t missed anything. The theme is “life goes on” over the course of a year. Duh… I actually found myself dozing off because…nothing out of the ordinary really happens. It starts off on a false foot with a short, stressful encounter with Imelda Staunton, a wonderfully talented actress who stole the scene, yet we never see her again. Instead, Staunton only serves as a pathway into the family, whose matriarch is Ruth Sheen and its patriarch is Jim Broadbent. Both are highly competent in general, but here are just boring. The few opportunities for tension are never developed.
The best part is Mary, played by Leslie Manville. At least she, in her role as a neurotic family friend, gets to supply a wide range of emotion as she goes through manic and depressed stages—a lonely fiftyish divorcee with no prospects. She even painfully flirts with the 30-year-old son who is polite, but he’s not only uninterested, he’s taken. Manville’s shtick becomes worn out about halfway through the film.
If the AA nomination is because of Manville’s part, I kind of understand. Even so, the remainder is entirely pedestrian.
Life goes on, for sure; but your life will go on better if you skip this film.
No matter. This movie, at 2 hours and 9 minutes is woefully long and never gets anywhere. I suspect that, since it is a family saga type movie, it will appeal to women far more than men. I stepped out for 5-6 minutes to get something at the snack bar and when I came back, the same scene was continuing; I hadn’t missed anything. The theme is “life goes on” over the course of a year. Duh… I actually found myself dozing off because…nothing out of the ordinary really happens. It starts off on a false foot with a short, stressful encounter with Imelda Staunton, a wonderfully talented actress who stole the scene, yet we never see her again. Instead, Staunton only serves as a pathway into the family, whose matriarch is Ruth Sheen and its patriarch is Jim Broadbent. Both are highly competent in general, but here are just boring. The few opportunities for tension are never developed.
The best part is Mary, played by Leslie Manville. At least she, in her role as a neurotic family friend, gets to supply a wide range of emotion as she goes through manic and depressed stages—a lonely fiftyish divorcee with no prospects. She even painfully flirts with the 30-year-old son who is polite, but he’s not only uninterested, he’s taken. Manville’s shtick becomes worn out about halfway through the film.
If the AA nomination is because of Manville’s part, I kind of understand. Even so, the remainder is entirely pedestrian.
Life goes on, for sure; but your life will go on better if you skip this film.