ANOTHER YEAR

Written and Directed by Mike Leigh

Starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville

Gerri: Change is hard, isn't it?

Janet: Nothing changes.

Aging is one of those human experiences that, if we’re fortunate enough to get up there that is, is essentially universal in theory. In practice though, some of us age much more gracefully than others. Some of us age while our dreams come true around us, while others do so while watching each of their dreams fall victim to time. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to choose how well life works out for us, so when the years continue to pass, each one has the potential to reinforce what we do or don’t have in our lives. ANOTHER YEAR is British filmmaker, Mike Leigh’s, specific look at one of these years and, in its delightful and touching execution, it contemplates the cruel little imbalances life has to offer.

There is a lot of eating in ANOTHER YEAR and all the glasses at the table are quite distinctly either half empty of half full. The table itself belongs to Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a couple who have been together for more than 30 years, who are still just as adorable with each other today as the combination of their names suggests they should be. They are joined more often than not at their table by old friends like Mary (a heartbreaking Lesley Manville), who tells herself she is happy alone but drinks to forget she is actually alone whenever she can, and Ken (Peter Wright), who cannot fathom retiring because then he truly won’t have anything at all to do with his time. Sometimes their son, Joe (Oliver Maltman) stops by too. At 30, he hasn’t met anyone special yet and with such a great example of long lasting love to live up to, you know he knows he is missing out. The dinner conversation is never boring and, thanks to the incredible ensemble, always fascinating and enlightening.

Tom and Gerri garden together. ANOTHER YEAR follows their planting cycle from the planting itself to the period of growth, through the harvesting in the fall and finally the inevitable death in the winter. They have been planting in this garden for years, just as Leigh has been making movies for years. And if the relaxed, subtly aware tone of Leigh’s latest work tells me anything, it is that he too knows that all you can do is plant the seed and hope it grows to be strong, tall and surrounded by flowers.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Written by Steve Kloves
Directed David Yates
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Jim Broadbent


Waitress: Who is this Harry Potter?
Harry Potter: No one. He’s a bit of a tosser really.

I feel like every time I sit to write about a new Harry Potter movie, I must first state that I have not read the books. If you were standing in front of me, you would make a face and probably insist that I must read them. I’m sure they’re very good books. How could they not be given the magnitude of the followers out there? I’m just not interested in committing to hundreds of pages about a boy wizard and his simultaneous struggle with puberty and the fact that he is the chosen one. Now, give me a two and a half hour film and I will certainly give this Harry fella a go. Even at that, I haven’t always enjoyed my time at Hogwart’s. I found the second film (… AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS) facile and juvenile; I found the fourth film (… AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE) to be messy and undercooked. Still, sitting with Harry and Ron and Hermione at that first big banquet in the dining hall with all those floating candles in this sixth year made me very happy that school was back in session.


Director, David Yates took over directing duties with the last installment (… AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX) and after that was so well received (Black Sheep Reviews gave the film a B grade) he was invited back to direct the next three installments. After seeing HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, it is clear that the right decision was made. Last time out, he was new to the scene. He brought all of Potter’s angst out of Potter mainstay, Daniel Radcliffe and he managed to make a tight Potter film that could be loved by fans and non-fans alike. This time, now that he has spent a little more time roaming Hogwart’s corridors, you can tell that Yates has found his footing and he has emerged as the best director in the Harry Potter series. Obviously, the most important part of the Potter series is the story but Yates has established his own force by taking that story and filling in around all of the edges. Thanks to Yates, and a delightful turn by Jim Broadbent, the Potter series has never looked better nor has it ever been this magical.


Not that the Harry Potter series in general is a big mental challenge but, again having not read the books dozens of times over, it is occasionally difficult for me to remember every detail to this complex progression. After two years absence from cinemas, a “Last time on Harry Potter” opener would have really helped. Once I got the gist of where we were at though, I didn’t have to do any thinking. The nuances he brought out of Radcliffe last time out were noticeably absent this time around. The Potter kids are pretty grown up now but their growth, which has been at the forefront of the story in the last couple of films, was stunted here. It was a bit more of the same as they attempt coupling (and snogging, lots and lots of snogging). While it may not have left me with very much to absorb about their nearly adult personalities, it simply gave the exhilaration of their trials that much more space to explode on screen. Then again, maybe we just know these kids so well at this point that new facets of their personalities are not what truly matters.


I just realized that I’ve said nothing of the plot of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. Either you already know it or you really don’t need to. Going in blind is always that much more fun, especially when magic is promised to ensue. Suffice it to say, Harry finds a book of spells that once belonged to the Half-Blood Prince and the kids try to find out who that is while the wrath of He Who Shall Not Be Named (but is named all the time now as if it never mattered at all) continues to close in on young Potter. That is the beauty of the film though. Yates cast such an exciting spell on this film that nothing else matters except the fun you will have watching it and the fun that was obviously had making it.