Another Year

Jessie Savini
Review 6
Another Year: 2010. Director: Mike Leigh. Screenwriter: Mike Leigh. Producer: Georgina Lowe. Cast: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Oliver Maltman, Imelda Staunton. Running time: 130 minues.

Another Year left me feeling satisfied. Satisfied only that the film was not titled Another Decade, Another Century, or even Another Two Years. Because one year was more than enough and anything more that that would have been absolutely unbearable. It is not that the acting is bad, it is not that there is a terrible storyline, nor is it poor production quality. But it made my skin itch and I was more than elated when those beautiful credits started to role. The story was downright depressing; Mary (Lesley Manville), is an annoying fifty-something year old trying to get in the pants of her best friend’s thirty old son because she has no one to love her. Gerri (Ruth Sheen), the best friend, puts up with all of Mary’s crazy antics for reasons unbeknownst to her husband Tom (Jim Broadbent), or anyone who watches the movie, really. The film goes on to explore the troubles of Gerri and Tom’s friends, and show how each and every friend has their own misfortunes.
The film revolves around the lives of Gerri and Tom for a full year, with the year divided into four subsections by each season. Though Gerri and Tom are happily married, the film more or less is focused on their unhappy friends, and how their friends’ misfortunes affect them in different ways. First, there is the previously mentioned Mary, who drowns her sorrows in alcohol and constantly shows up Gerri and Tom’s house whether invited or not. Though at the beginning of the movie Gerri feels sympathy for Mary, the mood changes by the end of the movie when Gerri realizes the toll Mary has taken a toll on all of her other relationships. Then, there is Tom’s brother (David Bradley) who stays with the couple while mourning the death of his wife. Though Gerri and Tom offer their home as a place to stay so he is not lonely, there is nothing they can do or say to comfort this inconsolable man. Lastly, there is Tom’s childhood friend Ken (Parker Wight), who is a fatter, meaner, and sloppier male version of Gerri’s friend Mary. He is distraught over his pending divorce, and has resolved to be an unhappy and lonely man for the rest of his life. There is also the angry nephew, who did not seem to offer anything to the story except yet another unhappy personality.
These miserable characters are people whom I would not like to come in contact with, on or off screen. While watching the movies, I felt irritated, depressed, and miserable. Each and every character bothered me; Gerri bothered me because she willingly put up with Mary’s depressing misfortunes involving the lack of love in her life, an expensive car that would never work, and the garden that she could just never get to grow. Mary was the friend who always had something negative to say, and she brought the mood of the movie right down with her. Tom bothered me because he was not able to help his brother cope with the loss of his wife, but instead just let him have a place to sleep at night. He also annoyed me because he did not bother to even try to get help for his friend Ken, obviously a raging alcoholic whose life has no real direction.
All in all, this movie was a melancholy British version of the television show Desperate Housewives. Instead of living on the cookie-cutter Wisteria Lane, this group lived on Miserable Avenue. Instead of gossiping about who was sleeping with whom, they gossiped about who had the worst life out of everyone. Instead of getting together to talk over afternoon tea, they got together to drown their sorrows in bad alcohol. They are an unhappy group of friends, with very few positive things to say.
Along with being thankful that the movie was over, I left the movie feeling depressed. I was sad for Mary, and I was sad about the fact that I could be Mary in thirty years. Anyone could end up being Mary or Ken. Not a happy thought or ending to a movie. It was not fun to leave the movie at 10:40 in the morning (for some reason I went to the 8:30 screening) feeling so moody and sad. I understand the point of the film is to expose the realistically sad lives that many people lead, but this will not fare well at a box office. Movies are an easy way to escape reality, but this movie is reminiscent of the depressing lives that many people live, which is never an enjoyable thing to watch.