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I’m linking to this Top 20 Films of 2010 list on In Review Online for several reasons. Because I really like the site. Because I really like the list. Because I’m one of the writers they polled to create the list. Because their number one is perfect. And because they were kind enough to invite me to write up Mike Leigh’s “Another Year” (their #19) for the feature. I already had my say on the film way back at Cannes, but since US audience are only now seeing the film for themselves, it seemed a good time to add a few words:
Stately and considered where its predecessor felt spiky and garrulous, “Another Year” was labelled by many a critic upon its Cannes debut as Mike Leigh’s antidote of sorts to his 2008 character study “Happy-Go-Lucky.” That’s a misjudgment made purely on the basis of tone, given that the two films, perhaps more than any other pair in the Leigh oeuvre, are clear sister works—both comedies of manners examining the effort that goes into the construction of happiness, divided only by which side of the Thames their particular gaggle of chirpy middle-class Londoners reside.
More, plus the rest of the list, here.
[Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]
14 responses so far
1 12-31-2010 at 6:37 am
JJ1 said...
Very nice read. I understand what’s being said about the “tones”.
Still can’t believe one critic on Metacritic gave it a Zero.
I just want to see it already!
2 12-31-2010 at 6:37 am
Alex in Movieland said...
it was in my top Most Anticipated Films a few months ago and it still is, because I have yet to see it.
I am however feeling everyone’s love for Lesley Manville and, assuming I’d like it (I loved Sally in Happy), I really wish she will make Oscar’s list, one category or another.
3 12-31-2010 at 8:03 am
Robert Hamer said...
White Material also made Reverse Shot’s top ten list at #3. Roger Ebert also praised the film, albeit on an inherently condescending “Best Foreign Films” list. It’s becoming the Summer Hours of 2010: Not one ounce of Oscar buzz and only modest recognition from the mainstream, but quietly becomes the most celebrated film of the year among critics.
4 12-31-2010 at 9:04 am
Bing147 said...
Wow… I was kind of hoping that site had ceased to exist. I had a bad experience writing for them briefly several years ago… not going to go into it. Its an interesting enough list though it seems a bit… well, one dimensional. Their taste is VERY one dimensional, which is pretty much what I expected going into the list.
5 12-31-2010 at 9:27 am
Adam Smith said...
I will show love to just about any list that finds room for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
6 12-31-2010 at 9:38 am
Cleetus said...
How can a #1 pick be *perfect*? It’s an opinion.
That would be like if Guy listed his top movies of the year, and declared his selection process perfect.
….
Oh, wait, Guy’s #1 movie for 2009 was White Material. Now it makes sense.
7 12-31-2010 at 10:17 am
Jordan Cronk said...
Thanks for the love Guy. I definitely needed your help to get “Another Year” on the list, which would have been a pretty big oversight in my view. Can’t please everyone though, as the anonymous Bing147 has proven.
8 12-31-2010 at 10:17 am
CarlCtenso said...
That site was probably hoping you ceased to exist. Bitter much?
9 12-31-2010 at 10:18 am
porchtalk said...
@Bing147 I have to take issue with the “one dimensional” choice of words; this list has a pretty equalized balance of both American and foreign, independent and mainstream cinema included on the list. To say that a list that includes films like The Social Network and Shutter Island as well as smaller stuff such as Dogtooth or Everyone Else is unbalanced or one dimensional is absolutely silly.
10 12-31-2010 at 10:45 am
Sam C. Mac said...
Thanks so much for the love Guy, you really are a great ally in this crazy film critic/blogger/website world. And of course thanks for your always-eloquent contribution to this feature.
And to Bing, I have an inkling of who you are, and it’s too bad you’re so embittered. I take a certain pride in working with my writers and being as patient with them as any boss who doesn’t have the means to pay his contributors should be. But not everybody shows me the same courtesy.
11 12-31-2010 at 1:38 pm
Bing147 said...
I don’t much care if you know who I am though I’d be a bit surprised, I was never rude to you and I didn’t leave with a bang, I just couldn’t stand working for your site to be honest. I found the staff to be mostly a bunch of bores who have a really one generic view of cinema and I didn’t find it to be a worthwhile venture. To each their own.
12 12-31-2010 at 2:03 pm
red_wine said...
Guy didn’t you find Another Year incredibly judgmental? The portrayal of the lead couple was horrible. They were such smug entitled bores wallowing in their petty little mediocre lives and swamping their friends with insufferable condescension. As if being happily married and a nice home is the pinnacle of human achievement and the source of all superiority.
The dialogue was risible and so commonplace, it was almost entirely devoid of wit. The movie’s one great achievement is Lesley Manville’s performance and character but what is disturbing is that Leigh clearly identifies with the lead couple.
I loved Happy-Go-Lucky which I think is a triumph for Leigh but Another Year ranks considerably lower in his oeuvre. It just didn’t seem very genuine. I would much rather know Poppy in real life than Tom and Gerrie.
13 1-01-2011 at 6:15 pm
AdamL said...
Love the fact that Scott Pilgrim made the cut but the #6 is a head-scratcher. A 60 minute film with enough material for about 15 is one of the very best of the year? Must be a weak year. What was so exceptional?
14 1-16-2011 at 2:55 pm
JasonF said...
red_wine – I don’t think Leigh “clearly identifies with the lead couple” at all. The film is a genuine character study, one that doesn’t take sides and one of rare intelligence and insight and beauty. I don’t think the film was pushing one particular judgment about any of the main characters at all. All of the principal characters are alternately annoying and charming, cruel and gentle – that is, human – and I didn’t find myself clearly favoring any of them (but I was glad to be have been able to “meet” all of them.)
One of the greatest strengths of Leigh’s films (and I’ve seen them all, including his TV work) is his close attention to detail. His complete non-condescension, and his “radical empathy” (as I’ve heard it described elsewhere) make his films some of the sharpest studies of human behavior on film. The close attention to detail in the performances and interactions are a part of what makes his best films (including this one) seem so very genuine.