Concrete Playground

Mike Leigh (Vera Drake, Happy Go Lucky) has done it again. With his singular, devastatingly incisive view from the kitchen sink, Leigh has stuck at the very heart of what it is to experience love, loneliness and that benign jealousy that comes from witnessing contentment. To set the scene Leigh calls on his Vera Drake lead Imelda Staunton, who in harsh close up delivers a stunningly raw performance as a woman seeking a cure for insomnia, yet one resolutely unwilling to broke any psychological inquiry. This stunning, severe prologue calibrates the film’s emotional barometer as Leigh navigates humanity’s highs and lows with a clear and compassionate eye.

Divided into the four seasons, Another Year centres on the unadorned but happy marriage of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), who have a warm relationship with their grown son Joe (Oliver Maltman) and a modest garden allotment in which they routinely potter about. They'll often invite friends over to share in their bounty, which is how Mary (Lesley Manville) and Ken (Peter Wight) feature in their lives. But as easy-going and well rounded as Tom and Gerri are, Ken and especially Mary are not. Theirs are lives of silently screaming desperation, which throws Tom and Gerri’s happiness into brutally sharp relief.

Given a firm foundation by Broadbent and Sheen, Lesley Manville absolutely steals the show. It's an extraordinary, transfixing performance, not unlike a car crash at times as Mary runs roughshod over boundaries in an attempt to bask a little longer in the warmth of Tom and Gerri's (and even Joe's) affection. The film is often like being trapped at the most painfully awkward dinner party, which is the source of as much dark humour as pathos.

So while outwardly it might seem like not a lot goes down in Another Year, Leigh's unobtrusive filming reveals volumes about the nature of friends and family. Part cautionary tale (heaven forefend that you’re a 'Mary'!), part heart-warming tribute, Leigh has weaved together this patchwork of personalities and masterfully crafted Another Year into one of 2011's cinematic gems.