“Another Year” ain’t for everyone. A friend said she didn’t like it because “nothing really happens.” That’s exactly why I LOVED this movie. We get a peek into the life of Tom and Gerry, a past middle aged couple who still love each other, and are content with their lovely calm life. But they have a couple of pathetic, lonely, sad, over imbibing friends who come over and just blob on the couch. Each one is what you might call “a hot mess.” You know the types, they hate what their lives have become as they’ve gotten older and it shows all over them, but they are harmless and so pitiful that you “can’t just chuck ’em outta the house!” Gerry’s co-worker Mary is always too buzzed at a casual dinner, cries, hugs and wants to know what is “really going on in your life.” She looks you straight in the eye you and says:
(through slurred speech) “Har you really happy?”
You roll your eyes and hope she passes out soon ’cause she won’t shut up. She used to be quite a catch back in the day, before desperation set in. Being friends with her is just one continuous eye rolling experience. Tom’s chum Ken is overweight, chain smokes and also drinks too much. He is desperately lonely, bitter and also pathetic. But the film isn’t just about them. Tom and Gerry have a lovely son, he has a nice girlfriend and adores his parents. Tom’s sister-in-law dies and Tom reaches out to warm his stoic, shell-shocked older brother. Wives die sometimes. As one mourner tells the widower: “You get used to it. It’s been eight years for me.”
Watching this film, you are just an observer (with a heart) who watches all of these characters move around Tom and Gerry’s comfortable house, dine at their welcoming table, eat their hand grown veg and sometimes fall apart.
We simply witness them as things just go along. And like life, sometimes nothing really happens.
Directed by Mike Leigh who has done some of my favorite contemporary films from Britain: “Secrets and Lies,” “Happy Go Lucky” “Vera Drake” and “Life is Sweet.” It also stars one of my favorite actors: Jim Broadbent. “Another Year” was an official selection at Cannes 2010.
oooooo, I love those kind of movies some days. I get over stimulated with the high tech, crazy pyrotechnic, mind fucking movies that are out now. A “nothing” type of movie would be perfect. I want to see that James Cameron movie about caving..but I want someone else to see it first. Sanctum? Anyway,thanks for the tip.
It is definitely a movie for grown folks and I don’t mean 20 or even 30 year olds… well, if they aren’t bored by the lives of the “mature folks” in life… they might like it…