Another Year (2010) or, Life in England

9/30/2013

Another Year (2010) or, Life in England

♥♥♥♥♥

2 Film Excess nominations:

Best Screenplay: Mike Leigh (lost to Christopher Nolan for Inception)
Best Lead Actress: Lesley Manville (lost to Jennifer Connelly for Virginia/What's Wrong with Virginia)

+ Best Dramedy of the Year

German poster version featuring a big tree shedding its leaves, evoking the film's melancholic tendency, for Mike Leigh's Another Year

Another Year centers on the married couple Tom & Gerrie, who have an allotment garden and seem to have cracked how to live a happy life. We observe them with the people around them for a year. They have, - the majority of them, - not broken the same code to life that Tom & Gerrie have.

Great, British writer-director Mike Leigh (Career Girls (1997)) serves an incredibly sober dance with his (often) drunk countrymen here. The writing, presentation and acting is so authentic and talented that the sparks catch fire, and a truly moving film about the fickle, human condition results. Especially Lesley Manville's (Fleming (2014), TV-series) difficult performance as Mary must be singled out; she gives a truly great performance here with a firmly lasting resonance to it.
Another Year is a very fine drama with outstanding performances, - and with welcome streaks of humor laced in it throughout, a film that should not be missed.
Bravo!

Related posts:

Mike Leigh: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
All or Nothing (2002) - Leigh wrangles more working class destinies with great performances

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 19.7 mil. $
= Minor flop (returned 2.46 times its cost)
[Another Year premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 129 minutes. The budget was helped by a 1.2 mil. £ grant from the UK Film Council, but Leigh commented it was his lowest "for a long time." Shooting took place following the director's usual extensive rehearsals, running for 12 weeks between May - December 2009 in England, including London. The film opened #30 to a 111k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 236 theaters, grossing 3.2 mil. $ (16.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 2.9 mil. $ (14.7 %) and main production country the UK with 2.7 mil. $ (13.7 %). The film was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, lost to David Seidler for The King's Speech. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, 4 British Independent Film awards, a David di Donatello award, 2 European Film awards and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Leigh returned with A Running Jump (2012, short) and theatrically with Mr. Turner (2014). Jim Broadbent (Vanity Fair (2004)) returned in an voice performance and 2 miniseries prior to his theatrical return in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011); Ruth Sheen (Vital Signs (2006, TV-series) in 2 shorts and a TV-series before her theatrical return in Welcome to the Punch (2013); and Manville in Playhouse: Live (2010, TV-series) and then theatrically in Womb (2010). Another Year is certified fresh at 92 % with an 8.15/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Another Year?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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9/30/2013

Another Year (2010) or, Life in England

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