Another Year (2010)

I said, "Delightful!" Jack winced and said, "Good, but not delightful." I was captivated by the blissfulness of the long-married, still happy couple, and Jack was distracted by the neurotic people surrounding them. English director/writer Mike Leigh is Oscar-nominated for Best Original Screenplay, as he was for Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004), and Happy-Go-Lucky (hasn't won yet--I also liked High Hopes (1988) and All or Nothing (2002), among others). Leigh regulars Jim Broadbent (I picked my favorites when I wrote about The Damned United) and Ruth Sheen (wonderful in High Hopes, the Reese Witherspoon-starring Vanity Fair (2004), and more) are 60-something Tom and Gerri--here are their cartoon counterparts--and during the course of a year they tend to their garden and patiently care for their relatives and friends, including the mercurial Mary (Lesley Manville, who was in every Leigh project above and more, and is quite powerful here--the American Academy should have nominated her instead of Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom--the British Academy did!). Imelda Stanton (she was Oscar-nominated for playing Vera Drake, and was wonderful in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Freedom Writers (2007), and Taking Woodstock, among many others) has a fabulous scene at the beginning as a depressed insomniac. A face I recognized was that of Phil Davis (he was the "mark" in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007), just one of his 103 acting credits, which also include High Hopes and Vera Drake), who plays the golfer buddy. I did not recognize Karina Fernandez, who plays Katie, but she was the flamenco teacher in Happy-Go-Lucky. Special note must be made of their wonderful house with the attached greenhouse and grand eat-in kitchen (production design by Simon Beresford).

This time we agree with rottentomatoes' 92% from critics, not with their 77% from audiences, nor imdb's 79%. Lovely music by Gary Yershon (he composed for Happy-Go-Lucky and was music director for Topsy-Turvy), but I can't find any clips for us (you could watch the trailer, but there are spoilers, in my opinion), nor is there a soundtrack available to buy at any price. You'll just have to see what many are calling Leigh's best movie ever.